Snow Day Chicken 'n Dumplings

Along with most of the Northeast, we were bracing for an historic storm. By all accounts, a blizzard was coming that intended to dump two, if not three, feet of snow on our laps. Yes, feet. Ugh. The governor imposed a travel ban, school was canceled, and we hit the grocery store (so many empty shelves!) for a couple days' worth of supplies. We were ready.

These cold, dark, snowy days are the the ideal time for classic comfort foods - roasts, braises, stews, carbs. How about all of the above? In the last couple of weeks we've made two whole chickens, one braised, one roasted, and put the leftovers in the freezer. We had onions, carrots, celery, stock, all the makings for a soup or a stew, or a pot pie, or...something different? Then we thought about chicken 'n dumplings. Is it weird that Amy's never had chicken 'n dumplings? It seems like the kind of comfort food classic that one should have tried before their 40s. So that answered that - we're making chicken 'n dumplings!

Chicken pot pie is our normal go-to when we have leftover chicken, so we started by making a version of our pot pie recipe as a base. We made it thinner than pot pie (less flour, no milk), but thicker than a soup, so we guess, more like a chicken stew. Then we grabbed some biscuit mix and milk and made a soft dough which we dropped onto the top of the stew and cooked. The biscuits puffed up like marshmallows and floated on top of the stew. A couple of minutes under the broiler made them nice and brown. 

We got about 20 inches of snow and we enjoyed making this recipe - hot, delicious, and cozy - perfect for a snow day. Or two. Tee hee!

Snow Day Chicken 'n Dumplings

Ingredients:

1/2 stick unsalted butter

4 tablespoons flour

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and cut into rounds

3 cups chicken stock

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cut into small pieces

1 cup pancake mix (such as Bisquick)

1/3 cup milk

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add flour and cook, stirring, until golden. Add onion and celery, season with salt and pepper, and continue to cook, stirring often, until vegetables are translucent. In the meantime, steam the carrots in a separate pot. Add the cooked carrots, then add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil then lower heat to a simmer. Stir in chicken. In a small bowl, mix pancake mix and milk until it forms a soft dough. Place spoonfuls of dough on top of (not in) the chicken mixture. Cook uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes. Cover, then cook another 10 minutes. Place under broiler for 3-5 minutes to brown if desired. 

Creamy Crab Pasta (Secret Recipe Club)

It's time for January's Secret Recipe Club! In the SRC as we all call it, we are assigned a blog from which we make a recipe and blog about it, while someone makes one of ours in turn. It's a secret until our assigned Reveal Day, which is today. This month, we were assigned the blog Mele Cotte, which is written by Chris, and which happens to already be on our blog roll. We have a lot in common with Chris (besides the name, that is). Chris is a middle school administrator who uses her blog as a personal diary of recipes, but also as a (very cheap) form of after-school therapy. Sound familiar?

Mele Cotte has so many recipes and beautiful photographs that accompany them, making it very difficult to choose what to make. But as often happens, the contents of our refrigerator made the decision for us. A couple of weeks back, our grocery had a sale on jumbo lump crab meat, and that can has been taunting us from the shelf since then. Chris's recipe for Creamy Crab Pasta sounded like the perfect vehicle, plus it had "comfort food" written all over it!

We made a few changes, not because we doubted Chris or her recipe, but again, based on the contents of our refrigerator. It's been a lazy couple of weeks. Regardless, the dish was everything we hoped it would be - a deliciously creamy pasta with chunks of sweet crab thank clung to the pasta in a dreamy way. Luscious!

Creamy Crab Pasta

minimally adapted from this recipe on Mele Cotte

Ingredients:

¼ cup unsalted butter

¼ cup all purpose flour

2 cups half and half

½ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more for garnish

¼ teaspoon. ground nutmeg

kosher salt, white pepper, and black pepper to taste

1 lb. cooked lump crab meat

1 lb. cooked rigatoni pasta

In a large saucepan or deep skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook about 1 minute, until thick and combined, but not discolored. Whisk in cream, and stir until the sauce begins to thicken. Stir in the cheese and seasons to taste. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors, and stir in the crab meat. Cook just until the crab is heated through. 

Serve over cooked pasta of choice. Top with additional cheese and pepper, if preferred.

Super-Easy Super-Crispy Baked Chicken

Let's start off by saying that if you are concerned about your salt intake, read no further. Those of you with high blood pressure, look away. If salt gives you cankles, please proceed to the next blog.

If you're still here, we'll continue.

This is one of Amy's favorite recipes from childhood, one from her Mom's twice-a-month-or-so repertoire. It's a go-to dinner when Amy is either PMS-ing (read: craving salt) or feeling run down or just generally in need of comfort food (as most childhood dishes are). Well, this week, it's all of the above, so salt be damned, we went for it.

This chicken is soooo very tasty, with its super-crispy, salty, herby skin and moist, tender meat. The house smells of Italian seasoning and garlic as it cooks, and, to get that just-like-Mom's-ness, we always have it with Near East Rice Pilaf (original flavor only) (and yes, we know that means more sodium) and canned (that's right) cranberry sauce on the side. Just like Mom.

Bonus? It's so easy, it can be prepped in about 3 minutes with a cooking time of about 45, depending on the size of your chicken pieces. Go on, you know you want to try it. But beware, once you try it, you'll be back for more.

Chicken goes into the pan.

Spices come out of the cabinet

Spices go onto the chicken; the oven does the rest.

Super-Easy Super-Crispy Baked Chicken

Ingredients:

Number of chicken pieces needed to serve number of diners

(we usually use legs, thighs, or, like this time, quarters)

onion salt, to taste

garlic salt, to taste

Italian seasoning, to taste (preferably without added salt ha ha)

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Lay chicken pieces in a baking dish. Sprinkle generously with onion salt, then garlic salt, then Italian seasoning. Place chicken in oven and bake at 450 for 30-45 minutes (depending on size of chicken pieces), until chicken is cooked through and skin is nice and crispy.