chicken potpie

I’ve always been curious about chicken potpie. You might even call it a fantasy. That gooey creamy American-midwestern Waspy dish that mom NEVER made. With two sticks (plus) of butter, heavy cream and frozen peas. It had no place in our kitchen when I was growing up. Or to be honest, in my kitchen as an adult. Hence the fantasy I guess.

Scrolling through chicken dishes on the NYT website however—which is yes a pastime these days, sadly—I came across Melissa Clark’s “White Chicken Potpie” recipe and thought—white meat, so it must be healthy. Two and a half sticks of butter later I know otherwise. At the time however it seemed doable, and like a good Sunday project. Michael had given it his casual thumbs up and his enthusiasm got me over the indecision hump.

So I bought the buttermilk (white!) and the chicken (white!) and the leeks (almost white!) and set my sights on Melissa’s recipe.

A couple of hours and too many dishes later, it was too late to turn back, and soon I had chicken potpie, an ultimately foreign dish (to me) which was so so delicious. Yes, it was too much butter and too much cream, and I was already thinking how do I turn this into something healthier next time. I mean, I had trouble lifting the dish out of the oven, it was so heavy.

I called the kids into the kitchen for dinner, and I immediately sensed failure. There were cooked carrots, frozen peas and biscuits—something for everyone to hate. Maybe I should have made those tofu tacos! Did I read enough reviews? My Jew-anxiety was on red alert.

Soon enough Nate had snubbed his nose which triggered Michael to double down on his picky eater issues—”But mom spent two hours making dinner!” which then sent Nate into a tailspin and eventually into his room, punished for not even being willing to try a bite. Mack took one bite and politely asked for a bagel. Michael and I ate our share while Nate was in his room and Mack was solemn. I have to admit though—it was delicious. Decadent, yes, but satisfying, especially the biscuit topping. (I’m a biscuit girl—the highlight of NOLA for me is the biscuits and grits.)

Finally, we let Nate out and gave him a bagel too. There was so much cleanup during which time Michael kindly suggested that we didn’t need to save the leftovers. But of course, I did save them—stashed in the fridge in the garage, ready for me to pull out one day and devour. Perhaps alone. Because no one else deserves to relive the trauma of white chicken potpie. The end.

easy chicken tacos "recipe"

Today I needed to flee and drove to Stew Leonard’s for a break from home. Shopped for groceries and then had an ice cream in the freezing cold, and felt somewhat refreshed. That’s what it’s come to.

As we head into our second quarantine, I’m returning to the blog, getting back to writing about all that I’m cooking, and feeling. These days have been rough—stuck at home without much to do, seeing fewer people and now furloughed from work.

Being home has been a lot about cooking, eating, drinking. I’ve covered the world in my food—from Ethiopian Berbere chicken to lasagna to vegetable curry, writing notes in my handy kitchen notebook. Many of the dishes I’ve made have been just for Michael and myself but I’ve also been mastering some family favorites, like chicken tacos—the boys’ new favorites. I’ve got a good go-to recipe for making the chicken filling now, in the Instant Pot. I cook 1-2 pounds of thighs, a packet of taco seasoning, a little salsa and about a cup of chicken broth for 12 minutes (15 if frozen). Then shred the chicken while boiling down the sauce. I return the shredded chicken to the sauce to moisten it but you could also just dump the sauce and keep the chicken as is or add a little bit of the sauce to the shredded chicken.

I keep the chicken in a Tupperware in the fridge for easy lunches: Microwave two tortillas topped with shredded cheese for 30 seconds. Add some chicken and microwave for 30 seconds more. Add whatever toppings you like: guac, sour cream, hot sauce, etc. Then roll it up. It’s a great fast hot lunch for the boys during school days that doesn’t require a lot of cleanup.

Here’s a good video about hot sauces (by Nate)!

summer picnic at home

One of my favorite meals of the summer was this cold picnic dinner party feast. I made the NYT’s Tandoori-Style Chicken, served cold with some of the unused marinade as a sauce. Then three salads: this Corn-Fregola Salad (from Bon Appetit, without the haloumi but with feta); an amazing Panzanella salad (with anchovies and capers) from the cookbook In Season (by Sarah Raven) and a Zucchini Salad with Herbs, Lemon and Ricotta from Milk Street Magazine.

The joy was making everything ahead of time and just leaving out on a table (indoors) until we were ready to help ourselves and eat (outdoors).

more chicken!

Has anyone seen Padma’s new show on Hulu? It’s pretty good, though very earnest. I think it’s a great fit for kids and I forced my kids to watch one episode—the second one about German food in Milwaukee, and as a result they learned a bit about their heritage (they are 1/4 German) and we made schnitzel ! I had made schnitzel before but I usually relied on a less authentic, more gourmet recipe—think Panko and butter instead of bread crumbs and canola oil. But this time I did it for real—pounded the shit out of chicken breasts then coated in the lightly seasoned flour, egg wash, store-bought bread crumbs then fried in an inch of oil (at 350 degrees) for about 2-4 minutes. The trick is not to over-bread or push the crumbs into the meat—just a light coating and hot oil. And the apparently traditional highlight—a poached egg on top! I have to say, they were a huge hit. Tasty and satisfying. I served with lemon wedges, pureed cauliflower and coleslaw and the kids said it was the best dinner of the pandemic.

chicken wars

So yeah we’ve been eating a lot of chicken lately. It might have something to do with the fact that Michael became a vegan and then a pandemic hit. Somehow that meant we couldn’t eat meat…but chicken was okay. And then we just went crazy on chicken.

We made Jerk chicken, Thai chicken, Filipino Chicken Adobo, Vietnamese chicken (fried, grilled and baked on a bed of salt), Japanese fried chicken, chicken tacos, chicken pozole, chicken shawarma chicken schnitzel, chicken curry (from Swati) and chicken tandoori (from Dave) and butter chicken. This one was really good: Turmeric Coconut Curry (but of course we made it with ground chicken instead of pork.) We even made Brooklyn chicken, or rather brick chicken from Marlow & Sons which was amazing. (And courtesy of The New Brooklyn Cookbook.) As well as Jonathan Waxman’s famous roast chicken.

At some point in all this madness, Michael had the idea to formalize these meals into a competitive draw: chicken wars, ala March Madness, in which we would have winners and losers and seatings and whatever else goes with whatever March Madness is. (I’m still learning the terms.)

We haven’t yet gotten around to an actual tournament but we’re still making so much damn chicken that it’s definitely a war—on poultry, but also between dishes. We haven’t yet declared a winner winner chicken dinner, but the dish I made last night came pretty close—it was a riff on lots of recipes that I’ve been reading and cooking. We happened to have a bunch of cilantro stems left over from the pozole, and I’m currently obsessed with fish sauce, so I turned those two into a marinade for chicken thighs that we grilled and served with a sauce I made up. It was so good I had to write it down.

Vaguely Thai Chicken

Marinade:
1 bunch cilantro stems, chopped
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp lime juice
2 garlic cloves roughly chopped
1 Serrano pepper roughly chopped
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor. It will take a few minutes to break down the stems but blend until you get a green sauce. Marinade 4-6 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on)in sauce for at least 2 hours. Grill on high until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Dipping Sauce
2 tbsp chili-garlic sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1 tbsp heavy cream
1 tbsp Kewpie mayo (or regular mayo)

Combine all ingredients in small bowl and serve with grilled chicken.

cooking around the world

Now that we’re trapped at home all day, it’s nice to spice up the home cooking with some food from other countries and cultures. I’ve made Vietnamese chicken (baked over a bed of salt), Japanese boneless fried chicken and today for lunch, soft tofu stew (Kimchi Soondubu Jjigae) adapted from a recipe from this Korean site. It was seriously easy and fast. And delicious.

Here’s my version:

1/2 a package of extra soft/silken tofu
1/3 cup thinly sliced kimchi
3 ounces pork or beef (I used one small pork sausage out of its casing)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 cup broth
2 to 3 tablespoons juice from kimchi
salt to taste and pinch black pepper
1 scallion, finely
1 egg (optional)

Combine the kimchi, sausage, garlic powder and sesame oil in a small pot, and place it over medium heat. Stir-fry until the meat is almost cooked, 3 - 4 minutes. Pour in broth and the juice from the kimchi. Bring it to a boil, and continue to boil for 3 - 4 minutes. Add the soft tofu, salt to taste (start with 1/4 teaspoon) and black pepper. Cook for 4 -5 minutes. Add the chopped scallion just before removing the pot from the heat. If desired, crack an egg into the stew to serve while it’s still boiling hot.

save yourself

You know that feeling right?

It’s a lot. Staying home and cooking ALL THE TIME. But then again, you could have your head crushed by Abomination. That would be worse.

So the latest issue in this busy kitchen is: How do you cook enough not to cook every day but also have variety? We’ve had a leftovers-lunch-rut lately—someone has to finish the lentil soup! And then there’s the kids: I can’t eat pasta for lunch and dinner! I’ve realized (not that this is news to anyone else) that it all comes down to making a big recipe and then portioning it out.

For example I made a batch of tomatoey white beans in the Instant Pot this week. It took me about 10 minutes of active time. We then ate it with grilled chicken one night. The next night I mixed in a little sauteed kale. We finished it for lunch with some canned tuna flaked in. You could also add some sausage or broth and turn it into a soup. I know everyone’s talking about beans these days but this recipe turned out to be very versatile and forgiving, even for my formerly vegan, maybe still vegan when this whole thing is over, husband,

A great big batch recipe to make for the kids is this incredible recipe for Mac and Cheese in the Instant Pot. It’s easier than anything else I’ve made in a few months and it’s delicious, and freezes well. Make the whole recipe (one box of pasta which makes about 10-15 servings) and then freeze meal-size portions in small Tupperwares or plastic bags for when the kids refuse to make what you ate that night.

Another one—humous. I usually just mix two cans chickpeas, 1/4 cup tahini, 1 lemon’s juice, salt/pepper, 1/4 cup Olive Oil and a few ice cubes in the blender and then store the whole thing in a Tupperware in the fridge. It will keep for at last a week or two and everyday when you heave it out for snack time, place a small amount in a bowl and flavor it however you want for the day: chili powder; cajun spice; sesame seeds, hot sauce; EVOO and extra lemon. Each day it becomes a little new.

Of course part of this strategy is making a plan: writing down the exciting meals you will make that week using the 3-5 major big batch dishes you choose to make. (Some other ideas: any bean dishes; grilled or baked chicken (put it into tacos, pasta, soup); slaw; pasta; roasted salmon (eat it cold or turn it into these amazing salmon cakes; ) It takes some time to plan it all out but honestly, what else do you have right now?

Swati chicken curry

Here’s a very sloppy recipe for the curry. Seriously going to need to use your instincts as I’m not a recipe person. I’m sure I’m forgetting something or in the very least not estimating accurate amounts. 

By the way, way to go with getting your actual name and nothing else as your gmail address! 

Anyway, hope it comes out awesomely! 

Red Onion Chutney:

Chopped small onion. Any kind that you have. 

A squish of tomato paste. Enough that when all mixed up it, it’s still a light liquid. Not very thick. 

Juice of one lemon. 

An average to small  finger pinch of paprika. 

A petite finger pinch of cumin.

A little agave or honey. I don’t know. Maybe a teaspoon. Maybe less. Maybe more. 

Salt. 

Combine and whisk everything except onions til kind of emulsified and then add onions and stir it up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRyELKGLGag 

Set aside in a glass or ceramic container covered and not in the fridge while you make everything else. After, store any left in fridge. 

For the curry.  ( * means it’s necessary or find an amazing substitute) 

3-6 servings (This is because less is needed to make tacos with the leftovers.)*Less than a can of coconut milk, maybe 5/8*Around a pound but not less, chicken breast (medium bite chunks)*A med sweet potato (Same size as chunks of chix)*2- 4 big clugs of chicken broth (low sodium preferred)*Tomato paste or fresh chopped tomatoes but then add it before the chicken to cook it down*2 minced garlic cloves *2 -3x the garlic amount of finally chopped ginger or some ginger powder.*Curry powderCumin*Berbere (Sub w garam masala or more curry if no berbere. If the sub doesn’t have any heat, a little spicy hot, add cayenne) Ground cardamomPaprika Before prepping the curry stuff unless you take forever to prep like me, chop chicken into medium bite sized chunks. Sprinkle curry powder on chix chunks. Enough to very lightly coat. You should still easily see the chicken. Like a see through dress. If that’s too much curry for your taste, then coat enough that it looks like one of those fishnet disco crop tops. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmx1GL1Kyuw&app=desktop  Add a little salt. Mix a little. Set aside. Heat oil and onions and half of the ginger til onions are almost translucent.  Add chicken, an average pinch or 2 of cumin, garlic and rest of ginger and cook til the outside is sealed. Whitish. Add 2 or 3 or 4 medium squishes of tomato paste. Stir it up. Add 2 or 3 big finger pinches of berbere, a big finger pinch of paprika and a medium finger pinch of ground cardamom. Stir it up. After a minute or 3 or 4 but not 2, (2 with this part is useless), add chicken broth and some salt and stir. Let that cook for a few minutes to be truly influenced by the other flavors. Little by little add the coconut milk. Do what it takes for it to not curdle. (Even if it does curdle, it will get better as you stir. It will be fine. Maybe not perfect but fine.) Stir gently at med-low heat. You don’t want big bubbles. Gentle bubbles might be okay. But not a lot. A gentle simmer. I indiscriminately cover and uncover. 10 or 15  mins before you’re ready to eat, add sweet potato chunks. You don’t want very mushy potatoes. You don’t want hard to bite potatoes either.Add salt, extra coconut milk, berbere etc. to taste after the chicken is safely cooked. Hopefully you got that rice cooked in the meantime. I like to add peas to mine. Plate the rice so that there is less rice in the middle so it kind of makes it’s own bowl. Put the curry on the rice, mostly in the bowl part. You should still be able to see some white rice the farther you go from the middle.  Garnish w cilantro and serve w red onion chutney.  Yogurt or even better, raita goes well w it too. 

my version of friday take-out

For some reason, I cannot order takeout when the rest of the intelligent world would, so tonight's dinner is a result of what was in the freezer/fridge after a week with TWO school holidays, six loads of laundry and a movie about cartoon turtles who fall in love. Eaten silently with a spoon in two identical bowls. And yes I realize they don't really go together and yes, I was too hungry to take pictures so this is a somewhat lame post but actually both were pretty awesome...Michael and Mack ate every last bite. I will make both recipes again. Unless someone orders takeout.


Easy Chicken-Broccoli "Fried Rice"

• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove chopped
•  chicken thighs cut into small pieces
• 1 bag frozen broccoli defrosted
• 1 tsps each fish sauce, soy sauce
• 1 small bag Uncle Ben's parboiled brown rice
• 1 egg

Heat olive oil and garlic clove in saucepan. Add chicken and cook for 3 minutes then add fish and soy sauces. Cook for 5 minutes and add broccoli then rice. When hot, add raw egg and mix to cook. Season with soy or hot sauce to taste.


Easy Greek Shrimp

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 garlic clove chopped
• 1 pound raw shrimp cleaned and shelled including tail (I used bag o' frozen)
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 1/4 cup feta

In saute pan, olive oil and one garlic clove then add tomatoes, tomato sauce and salsa and cook until tomatoes are soft. Add raw shrimp, stir until covered then scatter feta on top. Cover and cook over medium high until shrimp is cooked and feta melted (about 3-5 minutes).

a three ingredient sauce you should know about

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Last night I made  Sam Sifton's Adobo Chicken. I was looking for a recipe for chicken thighs and this one has hundreds of four-star ratings on the New York Times site. Pros: super easy and the reduced sauce is rich despite having only a few ingredients.  (Michael thought it was peanut sauce-that's how nutty and creamy it becomes.) Cons: I burned the chicken so would advise a shorter broiling time. I did not take a picture of the chicken because I was so upset that I burned it (and also that I wasn't watching it because I was wiping a tushie...) Takeaway: make the sauce. It's three ingredients that you probably already have, mixed together. Then serve it with some easy broiled chicken.

the mommy chef who saved dinner

My Brooklyn Based article about chef Paula Hankin and her ideas for feeding picky eaters.

 Read here

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simple shwarma

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My new favorite easy dinner party recipe, which I've now made three times, is Sam Sifton's recipe for oven roasted chicken shwarma. It's easy to make and serve and all three tries have been huge successes. The basic idea is to marinate chicken thighs, bake them until crispy, then cut them in pieces and serve on a big tray with a mix of any of the following: couscous, greek salad, feta, olives, parsley, humous, pita, tahini, yogurt sauce, etc. I also serve it with my secret special sauce which I adapted from something called "white sauce" and is supposedly Turkish. 

secret special sauce

• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• salt/papper
  
  Whisk everything together and chill. 

jerk chicken in slow cooker

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I love my slow cooker these days. I like being able to throw it all in, turn it on and not worry about dinner. Plus we've had some good meals-shredded Mexican chicken, pulled pork. Once you get the hang of it, it is worthwhile. The problem is that I'm not so practiced in it that I can just improvise. I've been using Cook's Illustrated Slow Cooker Revolution book but found it was too complicated for a slow cooker meal so then I bought their second volume: Fast Prep. Much better. This Jerk Chicken recipe came from that volume. Basically you blend the ingredients (scallions, ginger, molasses, etc.) into a paste to cover chicken. Then you slow cook and at the very end, put under the broiler for a crisp skin. 

when your coleslaw disappears

We celebrated the 4th of July on the 5th of July because rain was expected and there was too much traffic to go to Long Island on a Friday evening. The Davis/Chases came to Cove Road and we joined Brook's friends from DC who had three kids. So there were 10 adults and 8 kids who needed to be fed and a whole lot of mess to be cleaned up.

Then someone threw out the cabbage. A large ziplock bag of hand-shredded green cabbage and ribboned carrots that I had been marinating in salt and cider vinegar for 12 hours. Despite a passionate search no one could find it and we had to call off the dogs. Actually, Emma, the dog, who is usually all over me when I"m cooking was oddly nowhere to be found.

A note: Colelaw is coleslaw is coleslaw. Except if you live near a deli in Long Island where the coleslaw looks just like the potato salad and the macaroni salad and the shrimp salad because they are all just small plastic containers of mayonnaise. I know someone people love the stuff but for some reason it totally grosses me out so I decided this year to make the salads.

I also made Spanish spice-rubbed grilled chicken which was delicious--even cold the next day-- and easy. It's also a good model for grilled chicken on the bone: brine, rub, grill. I made a few changes to the recipe which was already changed a few times since it started with Bobby Flay. I used multiple chicken parts, not just breasts. Also, when I discovered that the garden was growing spearmint not mint (which may have made it to taste like toothpaste), I skipped the sauce. I just did a quick yogurt sauce--plain whole yogurt, lemon juice, chopped parsley, drop of honey, olive oil, salt and pepper. Then watered it down a bit. It did the trick.

With that I served this  watermelon feta mint salad ...but I added cherry tomatoes cut in half because the watermelon was a little worn out.  (By the way, I love Jacques Pepin. So old school French but increasingly practical for home cooking.)

Back to the cabbage. Since my original was gone, I bought a bag of pre-shredded coleslaw mix and doused it with white vinegar and salt, then tossed it with the sauce I had made earlier: yogurt, mayo, mustard (see below). Despite or perhaps because of the initial cabbage disaster, several people said it was the best coleslaw of their lives. Hmmm...maybe marinating is useless. Maybe everyone was hungry. Maybe everyone was begin nice because they threw away my cabbage? We'll never know.

But just in case the truth was spoken, here's the recipe

Do-over Coleslaw

1. Mix shredded cabbage mix with 2 tablespoons white vinegar and 1/2 tsp salt and let it sit for one hour.
2. Then add dressing:

• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp Dijon
• splash of pickle juice
• one garlic clove grated
• Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

stupid easy tacos

Marinated boneless chicken breasts in Trader Joe's salsa and then throw salsa and chicken in pan and cook. Shred chicken and serve with tortillas, guacamole and sour cream. Also: quick black beans: drain and rinse, add red wine vinegar or lime juice, salsa and microwave for 3 minutes.

cheese sauce

My favorite veggie dish growing up was cauliflower with cheese sauce. I tried to make my own version tonight, steamed cauliflower with nouveau-trashy cheese sauce.

nouveau-trashy cheese sauce

• 1 can “healthy request” Campbell’s cheddar cheese soup
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ cup chicken broth
• 2 slices American cheese torn into pieces
• ½ teaspoon yellow mustard
• salt/pepper
  
  simmer and whisk until smooth and hot (about 10 min.)

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