Chicken and Dumplings

I've been in need of some comfort lately. It's winter and I'm finding it difficult to stay cheerful. Although I'm running, the endorphins just don't seem to be making up for the tiredness, lack of light and general sense of ennui. This bowl did though, just for an evening.

These dumplings are like a hug from your mom. On a cold night all you need is a bowl of chicken and dumplings and a puzzle. Is it just boring old me that gets so much enjoyment out of nights at home? I find it really hard to make any other plans! Home is warm and has books and blankets. It's got good food and a lovely husband and movies. I feel so silly for almost never getting out, but absolutely no inclination to change anything. I'm going to give myself a break and stay borderline agoraphobic for now- basically until someone who loves me finally has me committed.

Chicken and Dumplings
From Annie's Eats

6 chicken thighs (medium)
1 large onion
2 medium carrots
1 stick of celery
1/4 cup Old Brown Sherry
6 cups chicken stock (if making from cubes- water down more than instructed)
500 g chicken wings

2 cups cake flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 cup cold buttermilk
60 g butter, melted and hot
1 extra-large egg white

1) Heat some oil in a large cast iron pot. Brown all the chicken thighs on both sides, seasoning with salt and pepper. Set them aside.
2) Remove most of the oil from the pot. Chop the onion, carrots and celery and fry until browned.
3) Add the sherry to deglaze the pot.
4) Add all the chicken stock, and the chicken thighs and wings. Turn down, cover and cook for about 45 minutes.
5) Now is the slightly annoying part- fish the chicken pieces out of the pot and remove the meat off the bone, cutting it into pieces. Add the meat back to the pot.
6) Mix the flour, sugar, salt and bicarb in a bowl.
7) In a separate bowl mix the cold buttermilk and hot butter until the butter forms lumps. Add the egg white.
8) Whisk the buttermilk mixture with the flour mixture until incorporated.
9) Place the pot on a medium heat and bring to the boil. Drop the dumpling dough in tablespoonfuls into the boiling liquid. Turn the heat down to low and cover the pot.
10) Simmer for about 15 minutes, until a tester inserted into the dumpling layer comes out clean.
11) Serve when it's cold out!

Roast Buttermilk Chicken

It's amazing how the word 'hours' in a recipe just puts me right off. It's never an instruction to do something for hours, just allowing things to rest, rise, absorb or marinate, but still for me it's like someone not using a photo on a dating site- I steer well clear. 

There's never time to wait an hour, 2 hours or 24 hours! This panic builds up inside me.. I would love to have the time to spend 8 hours or more making homemade puff pastry, but I have a job, exercise and studying to do, plus there's the keeping non-filthy, sleeping way too little and spending good quality time nagging my husband!

We should all overcome our fears though, right? I started small.

This chicken needs to marinate for at least 24 hours and up to 48 hours. I quickly put it together one night when I was tidying up after supper, and just popped them in the oven two nights later. It turned out much simpler than I thought- and garlicky, soft and lovely.

Buttermilk Roast Chicken
From Smitten Kitchen

1 cups buttermilk
5 garlic cloves
0.5 tblsp salt
0.5 tblsp sugar
1 tsp paprika (I used hot, not sweet)
4 chicken thighs

1) Mix all the ingredients in a ziplock bag (put everything in, close the bag and squoosh it around in your hands), and pop in the fridge for 24-48 hours.
2) Preheat oven to 200 C.
3) Line a baking dish with foil, take the chicken thighs out of the bag and place them in.
4) Drizzle thighs with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and paprika.

5) Bake until the skin looks like it's starting to burn- about 40 minutes.

Russian Chicken Salad (Olivye)

Just looking at this salad makes my mouth water. It's amazing- it doesn't really look like much.. But all I can think about is eating giant spoonfuls to 'check for salt'. It's my mom's fault. She was always paranoid about salt content and making me taste.. And I never was one for small spoonfuls.

In my family, and possibly every other in Ukraine, this is the salad that gets made for every get together, party and birthday. It's just always there, made with whatever protein is on hand. My mom makes it with beef or chicken, which makes for a nice excuse to buy a rotisserie chicken, keep the breasts for the salad and eat the rest with your fingers. I've seen recipes online of it made with polony, which is an easy alternative. I once even tried it made with calamari, which was.. Just plain weird..

This is the salad you want to snack on when you can't get to sleep and you're watching Buffy reruns at 2 am. Just get it out the fridge, grab a fork, wrap up in a blanket, grab a magazine, switch on the TV and you're all set.

I felt so good being able to make this fresh for Ralph. Normally I just beg my mom to make it whenever we come over, then I quietly and efficiently pack up and take home all the leftovers. I don't even share them.. I just quietly take them to work and eat them for lunch, telling myself that if Ralph wanted some, he would have said something. Truth is, I think he doesn't say anything because he knows how much I love Olivye and he's wonderful, so mostly I'm just an awful awful wife. But not when I make it myself and serve it up! Then I get to feel like the nice one for a while!

Olivye

From My Mom

2 chicken breasts, cooked

3 medium potatoes

1 - 2 medium carrots

6 eggs

1/2 470g can peas

1/4 English cucumber

3-4 Israeli pickled cucumbers
Roughly 4 tblsp of mayonnaise (I used Hellmann's)
Roughly 2 tblsp of sour cream

1) Place the potatoes and carrots in a pot of boiling water and cook until tender.
2) Boil more water in the same pot. Drop eggs in to boil for 8 minutes, until hard boiled. Pour cold water into the pot to stop the cooking process and leave the eggs to cool.
3) Chop everything except the peas into pea sized cubes, and put in a large bowl. It should look colourful and gorgeous like this.

4) Start by adding two heaped tablespoons of mayo and one of sour cream, along with a large pinch of salt. Mix through nicely. Add more mayo and sour cream if it looks a bit dry (add half of the mayo amount in sour cream). Now, start the tasting. You will be tempted to taste large amounts. Go with it. It will probably need more salt.
5) Serve room temperature. Goes really nicely at barbeques (or braais!).

Simplest Chicken A La King

Sometimes things are exactly as they seem. Not like low fat cream cheese, or chocolate covered raisins both of which I occasionally eat because, even though I know better, they seem healthy. But sometimes that cake you see in the window really does taste as good as it looks, a book is as good as its cover and that sweet looking girl smiling at you really does become your best friend.

This recipe is like that. One day, I was heading home from work, and even though in general I'm not a fan of onions, mushrooms or peppers, I was craving chicken a la king. So I bought the obvious components, went home, and made an amazing meal. I've since made this multiple times- even without chicken as a pasta sauce. It's so simple, not too unhealthy, and an easy pleaser.

I had a friend, Sarah, over for supper and I wanted to make a nice stewey meal that goes down so well on these cold evenings. This went down really well, so I hope she'll let me feed her again!

Chicken a la King

4 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces

1 onion, chopped

2 green peppers, sliced thinly

250 g white mushrooms, sliced lengthways

60 ml cream

about 1 tsp corn starch

1) Put about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan, and add the chicken pieces. Fry them until they are fully cooked, and browning. Season generously and set aside.

2) Using the same pan, add the onions. Cook until softened.

3) Add the peppers, cook until softened again.

4) Add the mushrooms, cook until reduced and softened.

5) Add the chicken, stir through.

6) Take the pan off the heat momentarily, and add the cream. Cook for a while to absorb the different flavours. Taste and correct seasoning.

7) Take a pinch of corn starch, and sprinkle it gently on top of the dish, stir through and check how think the sauce becomes. If it's not thick enough, repeat.

8) Serve with pasta or with a healthy alternative. Await complements.

Happy Husband Chicken Pie

Chicken Pie

Ralph actually sent me flowers the day after eating this. Do I need more proof? It's the crust that really does it. It's soft but substantial and it soaks up the filling while keeping the crunch of the crust intact.

Ok so lets talk married life. It's been a month now. I can't say that everything is the same- it's not. But it's only very subtly different. It's like.. You come home, and ALL YOU WANT is a chocolate peanut butter cookie, and suddenly you remember you made that a month ago and have frozen cookie dough in the fridge. Yup it's EXACTLY like that moment. I've been assured it will go downhill soon enough though, so I'll keep you updated.

I'm finally starting to gently alter recipes in my head before I make them- I think I'm getting a cooking style? I was making this pie for my mom-in-law, so I was trying extra hard because we love to make only our best dishes for her (I'm still trying to forget the red lentil soup disaster). I altered this recipe quite a bit from the original- but I kept the crust exactly the same.

Chicken Pie

Adapted From The Kitchn

4 chicken breasts, skins on, bone in.

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

1 onion

2 medium carrots

1 stalk celery

60 g butter

about 1/2 cup flour (look at the first steps here to see what consistency the butter and flour should have)

2 cups hot chicken stock

1 cup 2% milk

1.5 cups flour

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

1.5 teaspoons salt

115 g butter, melted

1.5 cups 2% milk

1) Preheat the oven to 180 C.

2) Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and pop in the over for approximately 40 minutes, or until the skins are brown and crunchy. Remove the skin and bone, and cut the chicken into very small pieces.

3) Chop the onion, carrots and celery (this mixture is called a mirepoix). Fry these in olive oil with generous salt and pepper until they brown nicely.

4) Now make a chicken veloute: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.

5) Add the flour, cook it for a little while. Take off the heat.

6) Now, start adding the chicken stock, bit by bit, making sure to stir well to keep lumps from forming. Eventually you should be able to use a whisk. 

7) Once all the chicken stock is added, add the milk. The consistency should be very thin.

8) Now put the pot back on a medium heat, and stir until it thickens nicely (it should almost boil). Season with salt and pepper.

9) Add the vegetables and chicken to the sauce. Now, taste it and season more if needed.

10) Pour into a pie dish- I used a 9 inch, and the mixture came to within a couple of centimeters of the top.

11) Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.

12) Melt the butter, and add it along with the milk and mix nicely (I simply used a whisk- no mixer required).

13) Pour mixture on top of pie.

14) Pop in the oven for approximately 40-45 minutes. Make sure to put a cookie sheet under the pie in case it overflows a little. Remove when the top is lightly but definitely browned.

Salty, Cheesy Comfort

Chicken Risotto

It's something I spend AGES dreaming about and looking forward to. I love the warm, salty, gooey comfort it provides. I feel like there's nothing it can't fix with its dreamy hugs..

There's a terrible secret about Ralph, a dark mystery that threatens our relationship every day. He passionately and unapologetically doesn't like risotto. So.. When he goes away I make a giant batch of risotto and just wallow in it.

When I was still at varsity I think there were only 2 things I knew how to cook: brownies and risotto (there was this packet cheese sauce mix I used to add cheese and bacon to, but I don't think it counts). I would make GIANT batches of it, and my mom and I would eat it for like a week.. I LOVED it. When studying, I would just eat bowlful after bowlful. It always brings back the best memories. 

Chicken Risotto

4 large leeks
4 chicken breasts
1 - 1.5 liters chicken stock
1 cup Arborio rice
1 cup white wine (I used Splattered Toad)
1 1/2 cups grated pecorino cheese
salt and pepper

1) Chop the leek into small pieces, and the chicken into bite size pieces (I like to make the chicken pieces quite small).
2) Take a non stick frying pan and fry the leeks in olive oil until soft. Add the chicken and fry until it's cooked and browning. Turn off the heat and set aside.
3) Get a medium pot out (the one in which you make the non-huge soups), and put a good couple of glugs of olive oil in. Set on a medium heat.
4) Add the rice, and stir until it is well coated.
5) Add the wine to the rice, and stir until it gets absorbed.
6) Add about a cup of chicken stock, and let the rice cook, while stirring occasionally, until the stock gets absorbed. Add another cup, and once that's absorbed, add the leeks and chicken.
7) Keep adding stock and waiting for it to be absorbed until the rice is soft and the sauce is gooey.
8) Add the pecorino cheese and stir through.
9) Add salt and pepper to taste.
10) Serve on cold winter nights, or just sad or anxious nights to make yourself feel warm and hopeful.

So it turned out I made too little.. I had Tessa and Andrew (Ralph's neighbors) over. Two lessons I learned here: Firstly, not everyone likes chicken risotto as much as I do (while I was licking my lips, Andrew was trying his best to get through a couple of mouthfuls) and, if you're going to have people over for supper, there won't be as much risotto leftover! I had to make a whole other batch to have for lunch this week :-).

Tomatoes with Butter Make YUM

Chicken with Tomato Herb Pan Sauce

It's such a cliche that butter has to make things taste amazing, and I hate to feed it but.. I'm a sucker for a delicious meal. 

Ralph has been so good to me lately. I've got a new job to get used to and a move and getting my own place coming up, and my stress levels have been even higher than usual lately, and thinking about food has been something I just can't deal with. He's been cooking and getting takeout and pretty much just being his wonderful self.

I really wanted to do something nice for him, and cooking is my usual go to. Cooking is my way of conveying good feelings towards people, and in this case I was hoping this dish says 'Thank you for being so wonderful' and 'Sorry for being so useless lately'. Unfortunately, unlike a cake I can't just use writing icing to spell it out.

I found this recipe on Annie's Eats but took tips from Pink Parsley too. I love reading how other people describe making food. It's dreamy and inspiring..

Anyway, I edited the recipe a tiny bit and came up with this:

Chicken with Tomato Herb Pan Sauce
Adapted from Annie's Eats originally from Bon Appétit, July 2011

2 chicken breasts (boneless)
1/4 cup flour

2 tblsp butter
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
2 tblsp olive oil
2 punnets cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup chicken stock
2 tblsp chopped fresh coriander

1) Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and dip in the flour. They'll end up with a very thin coating.
2) Mix butter with garlic, oregano and paprika.
3) Heat up a pan to medium- high heat with the olive oil, and add half of the butter mixture. Smells amazing!
4) Fry the floured chicken breasts in the butter and oil until cooked through and browned. Remove onto a warmed plate, and cover with foil.
5) Place the tomatoes in the pan and increase the heat to high. Fry them, mixing gently until they lose their firmness and start getting a little charred. Here's a picture of them during cooking (it's a bit fuzzy- sorry) - don't they look gorgeous?

6) Add the rest of the butter to the pan. Here pop the tomatoes and mix everything, making a sauce. 
7) Add the stock, and mix until the sauce thickens a bit and comes together.
8) Add the coriander and cook for just a minute before taking off the heat.
9) Slice up the chicken and serve topped with sauce. I served it with cous cous- it worked really well!

I love making warm delicious comforting meals like this. It makes me feel amazing being in the kitchen with things sizzling and steaming. I almost can't remember any of the issues I spend my days worrying about. It's my yummy smelling delicious escape from the real world..