Categories
Main Dish

A hearty pot pie is a ‘crust’-try recipe this time of year

Mushroom and leek chicken pot pie is hearty and delicious. Even better, it can be made using lots of Thanksgiving meal leftovers.

For a recent meal with friends, I made a cherry pie to share, and since I knew I sometimes get carried away with lattice pie crusts and run out before I’m done weaving, I made one extra crust, just in case.

Of course, once I was done making pie, I wrapped the crust up, determined I would use it for, well, something.

When Joey spotted it, he suggested something I, amazingly, have never tried making before: a chicken pot pie, pointing out that people might have leftovers around Thanksgiving that would be perfect for such a meal.

I did a lot of digging to find just the right pot pie to try and finally landed on one from the blog “Brooklyn Supper” by Elizabeth Stark. You can find the original post at https://brooklynsupper.com/mushroom-and-leek-chicken-pot-pie/. I changed things up to include more veggies in the pot pie and added extra seasonings in my version.

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Mushroom and Leek Chicken Pot Pie

Mushroom and leek chicken pot pie is hearty and delicious. Even better, it can be made using lots of Thanksgiving meal leftovers.
Course Main Course
Keyword bay leaves, black pepper, black peppercorns, carrots, celery, chicken, chicken legs, chicken thighs, fresh mushrooms, leek, meat pie, pie crust, pot pie, potatoes, puff pastry, Thanksgiving leftovers, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 1 medium yellow onion diced
  • 2 large carrots diced
  • 2 large celery ribs diced
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 20 to 30 peppercorns
  • 1 pound bone-in chicken thighs or legs
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 8 ounces mushrooms I used baby bellas, sliced
  • 1 leek thinly sliced
  • 2 medium potatoes diced (I used Russet)
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1 sheet thawed puff pastry or one pie crust
  • 1 egg

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
  • In a Dutch oven or stockpot with a lid, add four cups water, onion, carrots and celery. Put the bay leaves and peppercorns in a tied-up cheese cloth or a tea infuser, and place that in the pot, too. (If you don’t have that, put the bay leaves directly in the water and just put freshly ground pepper, to taste, in the pot.) Turn the heat to medium, and place the lid partially covering the pot, letting the water start to simmer gently.
  • Prep the chicken by sprinkling it with salt and pepper, to taste.
  • Heat one to two tablespoons olive oil in a large, oven-safe skillet (I used cast iron) over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the chicken, searing on all sides until it is golden brown.
  • Once the chicken is golden on all sides, add it to the simmering water and put the lid back on, partially covering the pot. Let the chicken simmer until it reaches 165 internal temperature, and then carefully debone it, chopping it into bite-sized pieces as you go.
  • While the chicken cooks, add another tablespoon or two of olive oil to the skillet if there isn’t much fat in the pan, and add the mushrooms and leeks, sauteing over medium heat until the leeks are soft and the mushrooms are just starting to crisp up a bit. Stir in the potatoes and the flour, continuing to saute until the flour is no longer white and all of the vegetables are evenly coated—five to 10 minutes or so.
  • Remove the bundle of seasonings (or the bay leaves) from the broth pot, and begin spooning the broth into the skillet (along with the veggies), about one-half cup at a time, stirring well and giving the gravy time to thicken in between. Once all of the broth is in the skillet, and you’ve given the gravy time to thicken up, add flour, a sprinkle at a time, if you feel like it’s too runny.
  • Finally, stir in the chicken and more salt and pepper, to taste.
  • In a small bowl, beat the egg and have it and a pastry brush ready for the next step.
  • Roll out the puff pastry or pie dough into a circle large enough to cover the entire skillet. Carefully place it onto the top of the skillet, folding over any overhang back into the skillet.
  • Brush the crust with a quick egg wash, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and cut at least two slits in the top of the pie.
  • Bake for 20 minutes, turn down the heat to 350 degrees and then bake another 30 to 35 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned and the filling is fully heated through.

This was really delicious, and it was amazing as leftovers, too.

As for using Thanksgiving leftovers, you’ll want to have about three cups of chicken or turkey broth that you’ll simmer the vegetables in, along with a couple cups of shredded turkey. Basically, you’ll just skip the step of sauteing the chicken and making your own broth.

And even if you don’t end up with enough leftovers to make pot pie, put this on your “to try” list. It’s hearty, filling and a great cold-night dinner.

I imagine it would be pretty fabulous with a side of leftover cranberry sauce or mashed potatoes, too.

This piece first appeared in print on Nov. 23, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Side Dish

Onion soup-inspired baked potatoes will have you crying with joy

French onion baked potatoes combines the rich flavors of French onion soup with the heartiness of a twice-baked potato to create a magnificent meal or side.

There’s that famous quote from Ecclesiastes that “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

That phrase is especially applicable when it comes to recipes, it seems. Any time I wonder if anyone has actually accomplished some weird idea, a simple Google search tends to find me a recipe to try.

With that said, I’m still regularly surprised with the recipes I find and the ideas people have when it comes to combining ingredients.

The recipe I found this week for French-onion-soup-inspired baked potatoes was one of those. They sounded delicious, and I knew I just had to try it.

This recipe actually ended up being an amalgamation of three different ones as I searched for the flavor profile I was after. First from the blog “12 Tomatoes” by Kristy Norrell at https://12tomatoes.com/french-onion-stuffed-potatoes. Second, from the blog “Simply Recipes” by Elise Bauer at https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/french_onion_soup/. And finally, from the blog “The Cookie Rookie” by Becky Hardin at https://www.thecookierookie.com/cook-perfect-baked-potatoes/.

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French Onion Baked Potatoes

French onion baked potatoes combines the rich flavors of French onion soup with the heartiness of a twice-baked potato to create a magnificent meal or side.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Keyword baked potatoes, bay leaves, beef stock, French onion soup, garlic, gruyere, pinot grigio, Russet potato, thyme, white wine, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 4 large Russet potatoes
  • Olive oil to coat potatoes
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 medium yellow onions thinly sliced
  • 8 cloves garlic minced
  • pinch of sugar
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine I used pinot grigio
  • 1 cup beef stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 10 to 12 ounces gruyere shredded
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
  • While it preheats, wash your potatoes and prick them all over with a fork. Fill a large bowl with warm water and dump in a healthy amount of salt. Place your potatoes in the bowl to soak.
  • Prepare a rimmed baking sheet by lining it with foil and placing a baking rack on top.
  • Once the oven is preheated, remove the potatoes from the water and place them with space between them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes.
  • Remove the sheet from the oven and carefully brush the potatoes with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  • Place them back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
  • When your potatoes are about 20 minutes from being done, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and let them saute, stirring regularly, until they are a deep, golden brown. (This will likely take at least 20 minutes. Be patient.) When the onions are nearly done, add in the garlic, sprinkle in the pinch of sugar and add salt and pepper to taste. Saute for a couple more minutes and then add in the white wine, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to get up any stuck-on bits.
  • Add in the beef stock, bay leaves and thyme, and let the mixture come to a very low boil, stirring regularly.
  • Once the liquid is completely reduced, remove the skillet from the heat and discard the bay leaves.
  • Cut about one-half inch off the tops of your baked potatoes and scoop out the insides into a mixing bowl, being careful to leave just a bit of the potato attached to the skin so it will hold up to being stuffed.
  • Smash the potato you scooped into the bowl a bit and then add in a handful of the shredded cheese and all but about 1/2 cup of the onion mixture. Stir it well.
  • Scoop the mixture back into the potato shells, and place the filled potatoes on the prepared baking rack from before. Evenly distribute the rest of the onions on the top of the filled potatoes and top with as much cheese as you can balance on top of that. (I highly recommend putting some cheese on the potato tops you cut off earlier and putting those on the sheet, too.)
  • Turn the broiler on low and place the potatoes back in the oven, keeping an eye on them. When the cheese is melted, turn the broiler up to high, and once the cheese is browned to your liking, remove the potatoes from the oven and serve.

These were fabulous and filling. You could eat these as a side dish, but I found large enough potatoes that we made a meal out of them. The caramelized onion flavor along with the cheese and potato was a fantastic combination. And even though these take a bit of a time commitment to create, I would say it’s worth it.

I have to admit that combining French onion soup with a twice-baked potato is a new one for me, so maybe there are a few exceptions to that phrase from Ecclesiastes. Of course, I doubt that the biblical author was considering spuds when creating that line.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 5, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Crockpot Main Dish

These tacos must ‘birria’ your next new dinner recipe

The process of making birria tacos is simplified a bit with the use of a crockpot for this recipe, but all the rich flavors are still there to enjoy.

A few months ago, I was introduced to the deliciousness that is birria.

Birria, according to the “My Latin Table” website, is a Mexican dish that traditionally uses lamb but is often made with beef, too. The article goes on to note that it can be eaten as a soup or made into tacos.

The reason birria is so delicious is that, as the meat cooks, it creates a delicious stock that is served as either base of the soup or as a side for dipping the tacos. Between the spices, reconstituted dried chile peppers and beef, you almost want to pour yourself a glass and drink it. (But I didn’t do that. Because that’s weird.)

After trying birria at an amazing Mexican restaurant, I decided I wanted to give the recipe a try myself. Being short on time, though, I opted for a slightly less-than-authentic version that relies on a crockpot. Either way, this turned out absolutely amazing. I was so sad when the final container of leftovers exited our refrigerator.

This recipe comes from Nicki Mejia. You can find her on Instagram under “tastewithnicki.” I added extra seasonings and changed the directions slightly in my version.

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Birria Tacos

The process of making birria tacos is simplified a bit with the use of a crockpot for this recipe, but all the rich flavors are still there to enjoy.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword adobo, all spice, allspice, bay leaves, beef, beef roast, chiles de arbol, chili powder, consomme, corn tortillas, crockpot, cumin, garlic, garlic powder, guajillo peppers, Monterrey jack cheese, oregano, slow cooker, tacos, thyme, tomatoes, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds beef roast
  • 1 small yellow onion diced
  • 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1/2 tablespoon pepper
  • 4 teaspoons chili powder
  • 4 teaspoons cumin
  • 2 teaspoons adobo
  • 2 teaspoons oregano
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon all spice
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 16 ounces beef broth or stock
  • 6 dried guajillo chiles
  • 3 dried chiles de arbol
  • 1 half large tomato
  • Monterrey jack cheese shredded (for serving)
  • Corn tortillas for serving

Instructions

  • Combine the roast, onion, garlic, bay leaves, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, adobo, oregano, thyme, all spice and garlic powder in your crockpot. Pour the beef broth over top of everything in the pot.
  • To prepare the chiles, pull the stem off of each one and shake out as many seeds as you can.
  • Add the chiles to a medium-sized pot and cover them with water. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil for about five minutes or until the chiles are soft. (Do not get rid of the water you boiled the chiles in!)
  • Add the softened chiles, tomato and about one cup of the boiling liquid to a blender or food processor and blend until the mixture is smooth.
  • Pour the chiles mixture into your crockpot. If the liquid isn’t covering the ingredients in the crockpot, add more of the boiling liquid until it is.
  • Cook for eight hours on low or four hours on high.
  • When the roast is done, shred it with a couple forks.
  • To make the tacos, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Spray it lightly with cooking oil. Dip a corn tortilla in the stock. Place it in the hot skillet and sprinkle on one to two tablespoons cheese. Put a large spoonful of the meat mixture onto half of the tortilla and carefully fold it over. When the tortilla is browned to your liking, gently flip the taco over to brown the other side. When it is done, transfer the taco to a warm plate.
  • Continue until you have as many tacos as you want to serve for your meal. Serve the tacos sprinkled with a little extra cheese and alongside a small bowl of the stock for dipping.
  • Refrigerate any leftovers.

Like I said, the flavor of these tacos is absolutely phenomenal. They weren’t at all spicy, but you could easily kick them up a notch with some salsa. Birria is also traditionally served with fresh diced onions and cilantro, if you want to add some color.

The trick for the leftovers is to wait to put the actual tacos together until you’re ready to eat them rather than assembling 100 percent of them right away and storing them in the fridge. They assemble just as easily as leftovers as they do the first time.

And if you are having any trouble finding the dried chiles mentioned in the recipe, try looking in the Hispanic foods section of your local grocery store. They’re normally sold in big plastic bags in that area.

Despite looking complicated, birria tacos were actually very simple to make, and they bring a little bit of a wow factor to the dinner table. Put this one on your list for your next taco night this winter.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 8, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Side Dish

Everyone will want to ‘congri’gate around your table for this dish

Congri is a beans and rice dish from Cuba. Some argue that traditional congri can’t be made with black beans, but this mixture was good enough that you probably won’t care.

An article by Eliana Rivero goes into great detail about some of the cultural dishes of Cuba, including a dish I decided to try for this week’s column, congri.

According to Rivero, “The name comes from the Creole French words congo and ris (beans and rice) to produce what today is widely consumed by Cubans in the diaspora (and in their Louisiana variation, Cajun red beans and rice).”

Except, after reading Rivero’s article, I discovered that there’s a lot of back and forth amongst Cubans about what actually constitutes congri. Some people, like her, claim it must be made with red beans, and others claim it can be made with black.

So, I’m putting it out there now that while what I made—a delicious black beans and rice dish—may not be considered congri by all Cubans, what I can promise is that it’s absolutely worth a try.

This comes from the website “Food52.” You can find the original post and a great personal story about the dish by Taryn Pire at https://food52.com/recipes/83081-congri-cuban-black-beans-and-rice. I doubled the seasonings in my version.

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Congri

Congri is a beans and rice dish from Cuba. Some argue that traditional congri can't be made with black beans, but this mixture was good enough that you probably won't care.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Cuban
Keyword adobo, bay leaves, black beans, chorizo, congri, cumin, garlic, green bell pepper, white rice, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 1 pound dried black beans
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 large green bell peppers diced
  • 1 medium yellow union diced
  • 8 to 10 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 9 to 12 ounces chorizo
  • 4 cups white rice
  • 2 tablespoons cumin
  • 2 tablespoons adobo seasoning
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  • The day before you cook your beans, rinse them well. Add them to a stock pot and add water until there’s about one inch covering them. Bring the pot to a boil, then remove them from heat, place a lid on the pot, and let them sit undisturbed until the next day.
  • When you’re ready to cook the beans, add more water to the pot—again, to about one inch covering them. Add the bay leaves and bring the pot to a boil. Turn the heat to a simmer and place the lid on the pot. (They’ll need to cook for 45 to 70 minutes.) Check the beans every 15 minutes or so to make sure there is still plenty of water in the pot. Add more, if necessary.
  • While the beans cook, heat the olive oil in another large stock pot over medium heat. Saute the peppers and onions until they are cooked through. Add the chorizo, chopping it up as it cooks. When the chorizo is nearly cooked through, add the garlic and uncooked rice. Stir well.
  • Add in the cumin and adobo, stir well, and then remove the mixture from the heat until the beans are cooked through. (To test the beans, fish one out, let it cool, and try it. You want it to be easy to bite without being complete mush.)
  • When the beans are done, remove them from the heat. Drain the beans, but reserve six cups of the bean broth (if there isn’t enough, add water until you get six cups). Discard the bay leaves. Add the bean broth and beans to the pot with the rice.
  • Bring the pot to a boil, put the burner on low, and place a lid on the pot. Let the mixture simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Stir the mixture well. If the mixture is soupy, let it cook a bit longer, with the lid off, to evaporate the liquid to your desired level. Generally, congri is a drier dish, with little to no liquid. Add salt to taste and serve.

This was flavorful and super delicious. It makes a ton, too. I made a batch and a half and couldn’t even fit all of it into my large crockpot for a group meal we had.

It’s perfect as a side dish, especially with something that has some sauce with it—like enchiladas or chili con carne. You can also eat it alone, although I’d think it would be best with a little salsa added to the mix.

I may not have actually accomplished historically accurate congri, but I did manage to create a delicious dish with plenty of leftovers for us to enjoy for the rest of the week, so I’m not going to worry too much about labels.

This piece first appeared in print on Aug. 11, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Crockpot Main Dish

There are ‘polenta’ of options for this pork dish

Slow-cooked pork ragu is served over a creamy polenta to create a delicious, warm dinner with tons of flavor.

It’s amazing how much variety we have at our fingertips at our local grocery stores.

There are so many options and ingredients that you’d think no one could ever miss out on finding something they wanted, but as is sometimes the case, I hit a brick wall with this week’s recipe.

I’ve been eyeing this recipe for a pork ragu served over creamy polenta, but when I looked at our grocery store, the only polenta I could get was the pre-made kind that definitely isn’t creamy.

So I turned to the Internet to find a solution. Surely there had to be a locally available ingredient I could use to make creamy polenta.

Of course, someone had the solution: coarse grind cornmeal. And I figured out that Bob’s Red Mill makes just such a product, and it was available right here! The website I found claimed that you just used coarse grind cornmeal the same way you use polenta, so I immediately bought a bag. 

And it worked…sort of. If you can’t find actual polenta like I couldn’t, here’s my advice: buy the coarse grind cornmeal, but double the amount of it rather than substituting it one-to-one with the polenta.

I was so ready to eat when I took the lid off my pot of polenta and realized it was more in the “soupy” category than the “creamy” one. So, if you decide to make the swap, I highly encourage you to use three cups coarse cornmeal so you can get dinner on the table on time.

This comes from the blog “White Plate, Blank Slate.” You can find the original at http://whiteplateblankslate.com/pork-ragu-with-creamy-polenta. I modified the recipe by changing up the spices a bit and by using a crockpot instead of the stovetop for the bulk of the cook time.

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Pork Ragu over Creamy Polenta

Slow-cooked pork ragu is served over a creamy polenta to create a delicious, warm dinner with tons of flavor.
Course Main Course
Keyword asparagus, bay leaves, creamy polenta, crockpot, crushed tomatoes, garlic, parmesan, pork butt, pork shoulder, rosemary, thyme

Ingredients

Ragu Ingredients

  • 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 yellow onion diced
  • 6-8 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup red wine I used a Cabernet-savignon
  • 28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes
  • 3 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
  • 2 bay leaves

Creamy Polenta Ingredients

  • 2 cups milk I used skim
  • 4 cups chicken stock or broth
  • 1 1/2 cups coarse polenta or 3 cups coarse grind cornmeal
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup parmesan grated, plus more for serving
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Cut any excess fat off of the pork shoulder and then cut it into three large pieces. Season them with salt and pepper.
  • Heat the canola oil over medium heat in a stock pot or Dutch oven and saute, turning each piece to evenly brown each side.
  • Remove the pork from the pot and place in a large crockpot and drain off any accumulated fat.
  • Add the onions to the pot and saute until they are soft. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and saute for about five minutes. Pour in the wine and scrape the bottom of the pot to deglaze it. Cook for another five minutes and then add the tomatoes, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves, smashing the tomatoes as you stir.
  • Add the mixture, along with two cups of water, to the pork in the crockpot. Cook for two and one-half to three hours on high or five to six hours on low.
  • When the pork is done, shred it with two forks, and stir it back into the sauce, adding salt and pepper to taste and removing the bay leaves.
  • For the polenta, add the milk and chicken stock to a stock pot or Dutch oven and bring to a very low boil. Add the polenta or corn meal, whisking constantly as you add it. Once the polenta is well-combined, place a lid on the pot and remove it from heat. Don’t open it again until 20 minutes have elapsed.
  • Remove the lid and add the butter and parmesan cheese, whisking until everything is well combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Serve the ragu over top of the polenta in bowls, topping with a bit more parmesan.

This was so, so good, and it made a ton of food. We’ve been enjoying lots of leftovers over the past week, and the ragu would be great as a freezer meal, as well.

I’m sure plenty of polenta purists would say that I didn’t really come up with a worthy substitute, but I’d say that being able to swipe my credit card locally instead of online made it worth it. Plus, it was darn delicious, so polenta or not, this recipe earned an A-plus in my book.

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 21, 2021.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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