chicken pot pie

Chicken Pot Pie

 [ filling ]

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon garlic

2 cups chopped onion

2 cups cut carrots

2 1/2 cups cut potatoes

3 tablespoons flour

32 oz chicken broth

24 oz cream of chicken soup

1 cup half & half

1 tbsp fresh thyme

1/4 tsp sea salt *

1/4 tsp cayenne *

rotisserie chicken

frozen peas 

in a large pot, melt your butter then add in onions. cook onions until tender then add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. then add in your carrots and potatoes and cook for 10 minutes stirring often. add in thyme, sea salt and cayenne (last time i added a little paprika as well). cook for about 3 minutes then add flour and cook another minute and make sure everything is evenly mixed. slowly add in broth, then the cream of chicken soup, then your half & half. cook for about 20 - 30 minutes or until the veggies are tender. add your pieces of rotisserie chicken at the end.

  [ crust ]

2 1/2 cups flour

2 sticks very cold unsalted butter

1/2 tbsp thyme

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup ice cold water

you will also need a food processor

you want your butter to be very cold, you may want to place it in the freezer for a minute before starting. combine the flour, thyme, oregano, and sea salt in a bowl. combine 1/2 of the flour and 1/2 of the butter in the food processor and pulse the ingredients until the combine into a flaky mixture, then slowly add a tsp or two of water and pulse until the mixture combines into a doughy mass. you may need to add a little more water if your mixture is still very dry and not starting to form into a ball. take the dough out and form into a ball in your hand. then do the other 1/2. let the dough set for at least 1 hour in the fridge before using. 

this makes about 4 chicken pot pies. fill ramekins with filling and add a couple frozen peas if you like. stretch dough out to be larger than ramekin bowl then place over the ramekin. you want it to go over the sides some but not too much. sometimes if the dough is too thick or hangs over the sides too much the weigh of the dough could make it fall off into the oven while cooking. poke holes in the top of the dough so the filling can vent. i like to poke holes in the initial of the person that pot pie is for. then place in an oven preheated to 350 degrees and cook for about 20 - 25 minutes or until the crust is a gold brown. it is best to place the ramekin on a plate so it easier to serve, make sure to warn everyone that it will be extremely hot!

[ how things really look ]

the baker's chicken and dumplings

over my past year and a half here in los angeles the baker family [jesse, kim, jess, and lauren] have welcomed me and treated me like family. they jokingly call me their long lost 3rd daughter. kim cooked this for me soon after i arrived in los angeles, and any other time she called and said she had a pot of chicken and dumplings on the stove i immediately got ready to rush over there! this meal will always remind me of them and the warmth they have extended to me. 

The Baker's Chicken and Dumplings

32 oz chicken broth

32 oz vegetable broth

4 - 6 chicken thighs with bones and skin

4 cups water plus 6 cups later

2 tbsp paprika (approx, better to add more because this really makes the flavor of the broth)

sea salt 

1/2 tsp white pepper (approx)

1 - 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper (approx)

1/4 cup half & half

3 cups bisquick

1 1/4 cup broth

1 - 2 tbsp half & half

paprika

sea salt

white pepper

fresh ground pepper

combine chicken broth, vegetable broth, 4 cups of water in a large pot and bring to a boil then add chicken thighs. add paprika, sea salt, white pepper and fresh ground pepper and cook for 1 hour.

remove chicken thighs and 1 1/4 cup of broth

combine bisquick, broth, 1 - 2 tbsp of half & half, and seasonings in a mixing boil. try to knead the dough as little as possible. Roll out dough into a thin sheet then cut in squares.

once the chicken has cooled enough, de-bone your chicken. add the additional 6 cups of water to the broth, bring to a boil, add back chicken and then start dropping in the dumplings one at a time. add 1/4 cup half & half and cook for 20 minutes or until dumplings are done. usually the dumplings will start to fall apart a little, this is good and should thicken the broth but make sure they don't disintegrate completely or stick to the bottom of the pot.

crab stuffed cannelloni

Crab Stuffed Cannelloni

fresh spinach (about 1 bag)

1/2 lb lump crabmeat

cannelloni pasta

sea salt

cayenne

ricotta

butter

3/4 cup half & half

01 : boil a large pot of water with some salt in it and drop the cannelloni in for just 3 - 5 minutes until it is rubbery

02 : saute spinach in a pan with just a little butter or olive oil

03 : mix spinach, ricotta, and crabmeat with a sprinkle of sea salt and cayenne in a bowl

04 : stuff cannelloni with crab mixture

05 : in the pan you used for the spinach, use about a tbsp of butter and once its melted pour in half & half. add a little salt and cayenne to your liking and cook until the mixture thickens slightly. it should stick to the side of the pan and the spoon a little.

06 : place stuffed cannellonis in a baking pan and pour sauce over them, sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes 

stuffed bell peppers

Stuffed Bell Peppers

2 large eggplant

1 lb ground beef

30 medium sized shrimp

2 - 4 green bell peppers

italian breadcrumbs

cajun seasoning

parmesan cheese

juice of 1 lemon 

01 : boil shrimp in a little crab boil or cajun seasoning (bring water to a boil, put the shrimp in for 3 minutes then let them soak until you need them again

02 : boil eggplant

03 : in a pot brown the ground beef, then add in eggplant and cook until there are no chunks on eggplant left and the two have made a well mixed goo

04 : cut the shrimp in half and add to the mixture

05 : add in about 1 cup of breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, lemon juice, and some cajun seasoning to taste [you don't want the mixture too wet or too dry so add more breadcrumbs and cheese as needed]

06 : cut tops off of green bell peppers, and clean out. if the bell peppers are large, you can cut them in half as well. then stuff the mixture into the bell peppers and sprinkle the tops with a little parmesan cheese

07 : bake at 350 degrees for about 10 - 15 minutes [this is a great meal to save extra peppers for later in the week or freeze ... this will require a little longer in the oven to bake]

blueberry mojito

Blueberry Mojito

5 - 6 mint leaves

20 blueberries

1 lime

old new orleans rum (a shot or two, or three ... no judging)

tonic water 

[a small splash of lemonade or simple syrup if it isn't sweet enough for you]

muddle solid ingredients, then add liquid ingredients ... cheers!

crawfish ravioli

this use to be one of my favorites at a restaurant in new orleans, so i tried to recreate it. it didn't come out perfect, and there are adjustments i would make doing it next time which i will include in the recipe but i certainly ate it all up!

Crawfish Ravioli

1 package of pre made cheese ravioli (preferably ricotta if you can find it)
2 eggs
2/3 cup shrimp fry
1/3 cup italian bread crumbs
vegetable oil

1/2 stick of butter ... okay maybe I used 3/4 of a stick, I try to use as little as possible but make sure I have enough that my veggies and crawfish don't start to stick to the pan.
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 small shallots finely chopped
4 green onions chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper
1 pound peeled crawfish tails
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1/8 teaspoon oregano
salt
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
12 ounces half and half
cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (it's always better if you grate it yourself! no shortcuts here friends!)

mix the shrimp fry and italian bread crumbs together. then drop your raviolis a couple at a time in the egg wash, then in the breading and place on a platter to wait to fry. turn your oil on to heat when you start cooking the sauce, this should give it enough time to heat up.

place butter in a large pan, preferably with high sides. once the butter melts add your shallots, red bell pepper and garlic. cook until tender but not browned, maybe 3 minutes. add your green onions, crawfish tails, thyme, rosemary, oregano, and a dash of cayenne and a dash of salt. cook until crawfish are warm and tender. add in flour making a well mixed paste, then start adding your half and half. i like to use half and half because it is much nicer to your tummy than heavy whipping cream. stir frequently and adjust the heat so the sauce just simmers. cook until the sauce gets thick and creamy ... this can take about 10 - 15 minutes. add cayenne to taste. a good trick is that the sauce is thickening is it will start to stick to the sides of the pan.

while your sauce is cooking those 10 - 15 minutes, start dropping the raviolis in the oil to fry. once the raviolis are golden, take them out and place them on some paper towels to cool.

this really should be a 2 person job ... one person manning the frying and one the sauce.

once the sauce has thickened, turn the heat off and add slow stir in 1 cup of parmesan cheese. place a couple raviolis on a plate, pour a generous amount of sauce over the raviolis, top with a little parmesan cheese and fresh parsley if you like and enjoy!

simple pizza sauce for margherita pizza

Simple Pizza Sauce

4 small tomatoes
3 - 5 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp dry basil
1/4 tsp dry thyme
1/4 tsp dry oregano
1/4 tsp dry parsley
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
sea salt
finely ground pepper

start a pot of water to boil

01:  cut the core out the tomato
02:  scoop out the seeds
03:  turn the boiling pot of water off, and place the tomatoes in the pot for about 8 - 10 mins
04:  transfer the tomatoes to a bowl of icy water
05:  the skin of the tomato should then fall right off
06:  place the "meat" of the tomato in a food processor or blender
07:  add garlic, herbs, vinegar, salt and pepper
08:  blend the ingredients into a good saucy consistency
09:  let the sauce sit for at least 2 hours, or even better over night.

i love this sauce for a margherita pizza, but add a list twist with some clumps of freshly minced garlic cloves! it is so good!

fried shrimp

on this trip home to new orleans, i decided i had to find a way to get some louisiana seafood back to los angeles with me. i actually bought a cute little cooler bag, and froze some shrimp we had gotten from the bayou that morning and some frozen crawfish tails and then put a couple freezer packs in the bag and everything was still frozen solid 6 hours later when i made it back to los angeles. so of course we had to have fried shrimp! [the others we made cheese and bacon wrapped shrimp that we put on the grill!]

Fried Shrimp

1 egg
tabasco
yellow mustard
zatarain's seasoning
shrimp fry

peel, de-vein, and butterfly your shrimp. make sure to wash them really well, then dry them. make sure to get as much of the moisture off of the shrimp as possible [this is the most important part]. this will allow the egg wash and batter to stick to the shrimp better and not fall off while frying.

mix the egg, about 10 shakes of tabasco, 2 - 3 good squirt overs of mustard, and about 2 shake overs of zatarain's seasoning. [by squirt and shake overs, i mean i usually gage by how big my bowl is, i shake and squirt lines across the whole bowl] the egg wash is mostly about color, you want it to be a yellow-orange color. if you are doing a lot of shrimp, you may want to add another egg.

put the shrimp in the egg wash, then toss a couple in the shrimp fry. make sure to get the batter in the butterfly of the shrimp and under the bottom of the shrimp, then place them on a platter.

heat your oil to 375 degrees, then use a small clump of batter to put in the oil to test if it is ready. if the batter floats after just a second or two of being in the oil, then you are ready to go. place a couple shrimp in, and fry for 3 - 5 minutes or until golden brown. let them hang over the oil for a minute to get some of the excess off, then lay them on a platter covered with 2 - 3 layers of paper towels.

crawfish etouffée

while in new orleans for my sister's college graduation, a friend brought my dad some freshly boiled crawfish. so my mom peeled the crawfish and we made crawfish etouffée. although we usually use frozen crawfish tails because it is so difficult to do fresh crawfish, as it goes with anything, fresh is always better.

Crawfish Étouffée

2 sticks of butter
1 cup finely chopped white onion
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1 tablespoon mined garlic
1 can of stewed tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon dry thyme
2 bay leaves
4 tablespoons flour
3 cups of chicken stock
3/4 cup chopped green onions
1 pinch of cayenne
1 - 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

cooked white rice

melt 1 1/2 sticks of butter, add in onions and celery. once tender, add in garlic. cook for another minute, then add in spices (minus cayenne) and crawfish. cook for another minute or two then add in tomatoes. blend in flour, then whisk in chicken stock. add Worcestershire sauce, green onions, and cayenne. cook for 20 minutes. fold in parsley and 1/2 stick of butter and you are done.

serve over cooked white rice and with french bread.

PS: one of our "secret" ingredients is hidden in one of the pictures but not listed ... see if you can find it!!

potato, leek, and corn soup

Potato, Leek, and Corn Soup

2 - 3 ears of white corn
1 stick of butter
1 yellow onion, diced
3 - 5 cloves of garlic, minced
3 leeks
6 red potatoes
8 - 10 cups of chicken broth
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
cayenne
sea salt

in one pot, bring water to a boil and let corn boil for about 5 minutes. let the corn cool, then cut corn off the cob.

in another large pot, melt butter and add in onions. once the onions are tender, add in garlic and leeks. cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. add in potatoes. cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. add in 6 cups of chicken broth. add in corn. add in thyme. as the potatoes cook, the broth with thicken so i usually add more chicken broth as the soup cooks keeping it at a brothly consistency. i like a lot of broth, but add as you like. Also add sea salt and cayenne to taste. i love cayenne, but add just a dash or two and let the soup cook for at least 5 minutes before tasting. if you add too much spice at once or taste too quickly, you will over do it. it takes a little while for spices to really mix into soups. so just slowly add sea salt and cayenne.

hope you enjoy it!

note: since this soup includes potatoes, if you make enough for leftovers you may want to have extra chicken broth on hand. the potatoes will absorb a lot of the moisture, so add some broth when you reheat the soup and you should be good to go!