Chicken (turkey/whatever) Por Pie

Nailed it last time and annoed iwthin an inch of my life that I coulsdn't find the recipe I based it off of ... that one had more veg ... the only thing i wouled have changed last time was using less vef.  Let's go ...

Preheat oven to 350*

Thaw 1 Cup frozen mixed veg (maybe more?)

1 can condensed Cream of Chicken soup

2 pie crusts

3 C cooked shredded/cubed/whatever chicken/turkey/whatever

Combine chicken/turkey/whatever, soup and veg - salt and pepper to taste - press one pie crust into bottom of 9 inch pie plate (bonus points: separate one egg - brush bottom crust with egg white only, mix yolk and remaining egg white with a splash of milk and use as egg wash for top pie cruat).  Or you could blind bake the bttom pie crust ... or use any or all of the above in whatever combination you choose.  Or not - I usually don't bother and ...whatever!), pour in filling, top with second pie crust and cust a vent in the center.  Bake 40-45+ min until golden, let set for about 15 minutes before serving.

Yissssssss.

There is also leftover mashed potatoes and fancy potatoes - future variations should include mashed potato toppintg and/or fancy potato incluaions.  There is an orphan pie crust that needs used ... thinking BOTH. Maybe cream of mushroom soup and usine only green beans instead of mixed veg and getting those leftover fried onions into the mashed potato topping for a sort of green bean casserole leaning pot pie ...

Chicken with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Based heavily off:

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/creamy-mushroom-sauce/

and

https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/chicken-marsala.html

Pretty much chicken marsalla with sauvignon blanc instead of marsalla in the sauce

Ingredients 

2 Chicken breasts, boneless skinless, sliced to half thickness and pounded out to 1/4" thickness
3 T Flour
3/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 T Butter
1 T olive oil

2 small/med shallots
1 T butter
12 oz mushrooms, any kind, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 C white wine
1/2 C chicken broth
2/3 C Heavy Cream

1 T cornstarch + 2 T water or broth
3 T fresh parsley

Directions:

Place the flour, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a ziplock bag. Add the chicken to the bag; seal bag tightly and shake to coat chicken evenly. Set aside.

Heat the oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. (Use a stainless steel pan for the best browning. Nonstick will work too, but you won’t get that nice golden color on the chicken.) Place the flour-dusted chicken in the pan, shaking off any excess first, and cook, turning once, until the chicken is golden and just barely cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.

Saute shallot in 1 T butter until softened, about 3-5 minutes.

Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Cook until mushrooms have released juices. Add thyme and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the wine to deglaze and loosen any bits off the pan and simmer a few minutes until the wine has almost evaporated.

Add the chicken broth and cream. Simmer 5 minutes or until reduced by half.

To thicken the sauce further, combine cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water (or broth) and mix well. Add cornstarch mixture into the broth a little bit at a time to reach desired consistency. You may not need all of the cornstarch mixture.

Let simmer 1 minute.

Season with parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

Notes - used 20 oz mushrooms so upped to 1 C cream + 3/4 c each of wine and broth - could have used more acid - more wine or finish with lemon.

Knife cut on chicken went wild - wound up with several thin slices each breast, no pounding, great result - I will do this on purpose going forward.

Do the mushrooms the correct way - do not add salt and pepper until they release liquid and then don’t add the additional liquids until the pan is near dry.

Use thickener sparingly

Sherry or Marsala would have been better! Lol

Freezing? Some people say this would freeze well, just be sure to stir continuously while reheating. Have not tied it myself, note for posterity in case I decide to.

Reheating - I packaged the leftovers in a Foodsaver bag and was going to toss it in the freezer only to realize I am running short on freezer space ... so I tossed it in the fridge.  It is 9/15/23 and time for leftovers.  I am reheating sous vide - its already in the bag - it is 100% cooked, it is thin chicken breast cuts in cream sauce ... 155*??? Thinking lower than 165* because of the cream sauce.  We'll see - hopefully I will remember to add notes.  Since I am sous vising which is as passive as it gets, may as well make the asparagus I was too lazy to make the other night and some pan friend yukons ... recipe (read: random musings) incoming.

Roast Chicken

After I rinse and pat dry the chicken, I pop it into a large glass bowl and add about 2-3 Tablespoons of olive oil, 2 healthy pinches of kosher salt for the outside of the chicken and 2 small hand fulls for the inside cavity, about 5-7 grinds on the pepper mill and healthy shakes from the dried herbs: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

From here I massage the mixture into the skin and make sure to get up underneath the skin of the chicken breast and to really loosen the skin on the thighs and legs. The skin of the breast will hold in the flavor (and getting the oil between the meat and skin keeps it really moist). Some people add hot water to the roasting pan, I don't - I think the skin browns better when you don't. 350 degrees until it reaches an internal temp of 180 - 2 hours, give or take depending on size.

Baked Chicken Dark Quarter

I started with 350 oven - I shook on some Montreal Steak Seasoning,Thyme and Rosemary and added 1+ Tablespoons of olive oil, then I rubbed it in and made sure to get under the skin with all of that flavor. Seriously - get under the skin. I will give you 2 good reasons: 1) That is how it gets crispy - you have to loosen the skin from the meat, otherwise the skin is pale and kind of rubbery and gross; 2) the skin functions to keep what is inside in and what is outside out ... if you put flavor under the skin it really flavors the meat while it cooks!

I used a foil lined brownie pan - its the right size for the job! Its important to keep the chicken elevated - I don't have a brownie pan-sized roasting rack, so I used some creatively balled foil. I snap off an extra long piece, scrunch it down into a long roll and then bend it into kind of an S shape - I rest the chicken on that and there you are - a rack that you can custom fit to the meal and you don't have to wash.

I popped it in at 350 for 40 minutes, but when I checked the skin was not crispy and the temperature was a little low (chicken needs to reach an internal temp of 180.) Drat. So I cranked up the heat to450 and tossed it back in - after 5 minutes it wasn't where I wanted it to be, but after 10 the temp was good and the skin looked pretty good too. And just as with a whole chicken, don't cut into it right away - let it rest 10-15 minutes - worth the wait! (It will be juicier!)

Skillet Roasted Chicken

The first time I made it, I made a few substitutions - I will give the original recipe and make note of my changes.

The first step is to cut a whole chicken into 10 parts - I would have done this, but I happened to have a ton of leg quarters with skin on in my freezer, so I decided to do an all dark meat version of this dish. You can use already cut chicken parts, they just need to still have the bones in and the skin on. Pat the pieces dry and season with salt and pepper. I actually didn't pat them, but I did leave them to hang out (seasoned) in the fridge for a few hours before cooking. The only reason I didn't pat them was because I was a moron and hit them with the salt and pepper before remembering that I should have dried them. Well, the fridge and the salt were merciful and forgiving of my idiocy - I still got a really great crispy skin, but I promise, I will dry them before I cook them this Sunday! I am not leaving crsipy deliciousness to chance!

Heat 2 T vegetable oil (I used extra virgin olive oil made for high heat instead because it is what I had) on med/high in a skillet large enough to hold all of your pieces, but not crowd them. Once the oil is heated, place the pieces in, skin side down - you will hear it start to sizzle immediately but resist the urge to touch them for 5 minutes! As Alton Brown would say "Just walk away!" Then turn the pieces - the skin should be beautifully browned.

Turn the heat down to medium/low, add 3/4 C chicken broth to the pan, cover and steam until the breasts (if you are using them) reach 155 degrees and the thighs are at 170 (10-16 minutes). Transfer the chicken piece by piece to a plate, pour the pan drippings into a measuring cup for later. Use tongs and a paper towel to wipe the skillet down and add 1 t of oil (I was supremely lazy and did not wipe the skillet, there was about 1 tsp left in the pan and I was soooo hungry I decided it was good enough. It worked out fine, but again ... not sure if I will leave it up to chance, I got lucky!) Put the chicken back into the pan, skin side down, it should be perfectly re-crisped in 5 minutes (mine were!) with the breast meat at 160 and the thighs at 175. Evacuate the chicken to a platter, tent loosely with foil, then turn your attention to the reserved measuring cup full of pan drippings.

Separate the fat from the drippings. The cooks on the show said not to bother using a fat separator because it might prove ineffectual with such a small qty of liquid, but I didn't listen. They were right so I dumped it back out of the crappy separator I have and just spooned it off, like they do on TV. I wasn't really picky though, I left a bit behind. I was hungry and wanted to speed through it!

Add enough chicken broth to the drippings to equal 3/4 C liquid. Heat 1 t of oil in the skillet on low and then add 1 minced shallot, cook until soft, about a minute. Add 1 t of flour and stir and cook for about 30 seconds. Turn heat to medium and stir in the liquid. Bring this to a simmer, reduce it to 1/2 C (about 2 minutes) - check the volume in a measuring cup! (I actually did this!

Return the liquid to the pan and then pour in any juices that have accumulated on the platter of tented chicken, cook for another 30 seconds, then remove from heat. Whisk in 1.5T fresh chopped parsley, 1.5T fresh chives and 1 T butter. I lacked fresh parsley so I used a little dried parsley, didn't have chives so I squeezed in some lemon for brightness and even though the show said the butter was optional, I believe that to be blasphemy. I am sure their version was divine, but so was mine!

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Breasts

Honey mustard is easy – equal parts honey and mustard, stir to combine, done. I preheated the oven to the high side of 350, line a brownie pan (8 x 8” square) with foil, place boneless skinless chicken breasts in the pan and drizzle with the honey mustard, cook for 30 minutes (or until done – check with thermometer!!!)