Coq Au Vin

Classic comfort food. Love.

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless chicken thighs
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 c carrots, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 ribs celery, VERY finely chopped
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
2 c red wine
1 box o stock, chicken
2 Tbsp butter
Finely chopped parsley

Sprinkle your chicken with salt and pepper. In a large pot brown in batches, remember, it doesn't necessarily need to be cooked all the way through, just browned and delish. Remove from pan and add in onion, shallot, carrots, and celery. Season with salt. Soften for a few minutes, then add in all the spices, and garlic. Cook another minute or so over medium heat. Add your wine and chicken stock, then add back in your chicken AND all the juices that have collected. Cook for 40-50 minutes at a low simmer. Remove chicken, and stir in your butter. Whisk together quickly to emulsify the sauce. Simmer and reduce a bit. Pour over the chicken. Serve with noodles.





The veg all ready to go.

Yummy browned chicken.

Veg softening.

Add the spices and garlic.

Stir together.

Add your stock and wine.

Start to simmer

Chicken and Dumplings

Yep, another stew/soup. I know you are quite possibly sick of these, but honestly guys, how easy is stew? One pot, delicious easy eating, what could be wrong? This is... not as simple as some other Chicken and dumpling recipes I've used, this is more along the lines of I guess you could say "gourmet" chicken and dumplings.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 c flour
1 whole chicken cut into pieces, OR several bone in chicken thighs
Salt and Pepper
3 carrots finely diced
3 celery stalks finely diced
1 medium onion finely diced
1 tsp dried thyme
6-8 c chicken broth
1/2 c apple juice, or apple cider
1/2 c cream (optional)

Dumplings
1 c Bisquick
1/3 c milk
Paprika to sprinkle over top

In a large pot over medium low heat melt butter and oil. Add carrots, celery, and onion and saute until softened. Add in flour and mix well, cook for about two minutes. Add thyme, and pepper. Add chicken broth and apple juice. Stir well, no clumping wanted. Add chicken pieces, bring to boil. Boil 25 to 30 minutes until chicken is tender and cooked through. Then pull it out, shred the chicken and remove all bones and nasty stuff. Add back into the pot. At this point your soup should be thickened nicely. Turn down the heat a bit you want a gentle simmer. Mix together your dumpling ingredients. Drop by spoonful in small amounts on top of the simmering liquid. Sprinkle with Paprika and cover. Let cook 5-10 minutes until the dumplings are cooked through.

Enjoy!


Veggies

Sauteed down

Everything else in the pot

Dumplings in.

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb chicken thighs, cubed
2 1/2 tsp sale
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
4 oz baby bella mushrooms, chopped
4 oz white button mushrooms, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
2 Tbsp butter
3 oz all purpose flour
2 c chicken broth (one box o stock)
1 1/2 c milk, room temperature
1/2 bag frozen peas
1/2 bag frozen edemame
Olive oil

Season your chicken pieces with salt and pepper. In a large pan saute seasoned chicken in oil until browned on all sides, about 4-6 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside.
On medium head in the same pan add a bit more olive oil (OR cook up some bacon) add in the onion, shallots, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, celery, thyme, marjoram, salt and pepper, stir to combine.
Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions have softened, about 5 minutes. Add butter and melt. Stir in the flour and cook 1 to 2 minutes, you want to do this to remove the floury taste. Gradually stir in the chicken broth and milk. Bring to simmer, stirring occasionally. Continue stirring until sauce thickens, about three minutes. Remove from heat and stir in peas, edemame, and chicken. Stir. Cover and set aside.

Prep your vessel. You can do this family style with one large pie, or in individual ramekins. I prefer this with a puff pastry crust on top, but you can use a regular pie crust. I also only like crust on top, but you can line your dishes with a crust if you prefer. I also always put the ramekins on top of a sheet pan. That way if there is any bubble over, it ends up on the pan, not in my oven.

Divide your filling between your ramekins, cover with dough. Egg wash the tops to get a nice browned crust. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then decrease the heat to 400 and bake another 15 to 20 minutes.


Onto the pictures!


The team.

The veg all prepped.

Saute the chicken.

Then the veg.

Until the onions are nice and softened.

Add the butter.

Then the flour.

Stir, and cook for a few minutes.

Add in the milk.

Then the chicken stock.

Remove from heat and add the frozen veg.

Stir in.


My camera died here... so forgive me....

When they come out of the oven they look like this....

Well hello beautiful...

Loaded with veggie goodness.

My beautiful homemade puff pastry. Isn't it flakily gorgeous?

NOM. So good.

Do you like chicken pot pies? Have you ever made them from scratch? You should.