I was drawn to this recipe of chicken pot pie from the first moment I saw it on the cover of the cookbook Easy Comfort Food: Simple Recipes for Feel-Good Favorites. This version of chicken pot pie is fairly simple to make, especially if you use frozen pie crust or puff pastry and grocery store rotisserie chicken. The recipe also calls for my favorite herb of the moment, tarragon, which pairs very well with chicken. Best of all, this chicken pot pie does not contain anything I have to pick out, namely carrots or peas. I added shiitake mushrooms to make the filling more hearty and because I like mushrooms. To get all the fond, or caramelized browned bits of chicken stuck on the pan, I also recommend deglazing with some white wine. This step adds wonderful flavor to the filling. I converted this recipe from one large pie into 4 individual ones because the pies served in ramekins makes for a nicer presentation and they’re easier to serve. To ensure that there is ample pie crust for each serving, I cut the dough into rounds and placed a piece of dough on the bottom of each ramekin, added the filling, and then topped it with another piece of dough.
Category Archives: Recipes
pumpkin ice cream with maple walnut crunch
Chris was cleaning out the fridge and found the pumpkin purée that was leftover from that awful latte recipe, so he decided to make pumpkin ice cream with it. Neither one of us had made ice cream lately, so this was a welcome treat. It is a nice transition from the lighter flavors we’ve been making this summer . The recipe is adapted from our favorite ice cream cookbook author, David Lebovitz. The walnut topping adds some crunch and pairs very well with the pumpkin.
lemon shortbread cookies
Yesterday I needed a break from the weekend chores so I decide to make some shortbread cookies. They are easy to make and I had all the ingredients on hand. This recipe is adapted from one given to Aunt Janet by Mrs. Beaten, a Scottish neighbor of hers when she lived in Hilo, HI. These cookies have a great lemony flavor and are perfect with a cup of tea.
Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Adapted from a recipe by Mrs. Beaten
Yields 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
10 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon (preferably meyer lemon)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
1 tablespoon lemon thyme, finely chopped for garnish
egg salad sandwich
What makes a good egg salad sandwich? Everyone has their own answer to this question. For me, it all starts with fresh, perfectly cooked soft-boiled eggs. I add a little crunch for texture, a little acidity to balance out the creaminess of the eggs, and a dollop or two of mayonnaise to bind it all together. I add a sprinkling of fresh herbs and spices to brighten the flavor. All the ingredients are mixed together and put between two pieces of lightly toasted and buttered white bread. The butter prevents the bread from being soggy. I often cut the crusts off the bread as well.
Some people add olives, capers, pickles, dill, chives, and/or whole grain mustard, etc. Personally, I add some tarragon, curry powder, and dry mustard to make my perfect egg salad. I love the taste of tarragon and it goes perfectly with eggs. It’s really very simple and easy to make.
roasted fig and mascarpone tart with candied walnuts
Time really does fly when you’re having fun…and what fun I’ve had this past week! From celebrating my wedding anniversary to transforming my backyard into an urban vegetable garden to making some yummy desserts, this staycation has definitely been a blast!!
One luxury of my time off has been to indulge in longer baking sessions than I would normally have time for during a regular work week. As such, I was able to develop this tart recipe. This was a perfectly sweeet ending to my weeklong staycation.
peanut butter pie for chris
A few days ago, Chris requested that I make something with peanut butter. Since I was in the mood to make some kind of dessert, I decided to make a peanut butter pie. I Googled “peanut butter pie” and the results were a little puzzling. The internet was buzzing with many food bloggers making peanut butter pies “for Mikey.” After further research, I learned that last month prominent food blogger Jennie Perillo’s husband, Mikey, suffered a heart attack and died leaving her to raise their young children alone. To honor Mikey, Jennie wrote a touching tribute on her blog, part of which I share with you.
For those asking what they can do to help my healing process, make a peanut butter pie this Friday and share it with someone you love. Then hug them like there’s no tomorrow because today is the only guarantee we can count on.
~ Jennie Perillo, food blogger
How to Smoke a Brisket
I am really happy in my husband, Chris’ growing interest in cooking. I heartily encourage him to try new recipes and be more adventurous in his cooking. Last Sunday, I was in for a real carnivore treat because Chris spent the better part of the morning smoking a brisket. So today’s post comes from my new personal pit master (who also happens to be my personal barista). Thanks for sharing your newfound knowledge on Texas-style barbecue, Chris!
Hello, daisy’s world readers! I’ve wanted to do some kind of low and slow all-day cooking project for sometime now – either smoking, braising or rotisserie-cooking some kind of meat. Then I saw an episode of Alton Brown’s show, Good Eats entitled Right on ‘Cue. In it, he describes in great technical detail how to smoke meat. That was it; I decided that I was going to cook with smoke. I was tempted to invest in a smoker and fancy dual temperature thermometers made specifically for smoking meats, but, in the end I decided to use the gas grill and meat thermometer we already had. The only thing I had to buy was a disposable aluminum pan and a bag of wood chips. I choose cherry wood chips for “medium” smokiness over mesquite or apple wood chips that only promised “light” smoke.
Country Fried Chicken
I woke up yesterday morning with a craving for fried chicken, and as luck would have it, we had a package of chicken thighs. After more digging around in the freezer, I also found some leftover frozen biscuits and a package of Trader Joe’s frozen sweet potato fries. With that, grease-laden lunch was born! I got my Presto Fry Daddy, which does not get much use these days, and filled it with peanut oil. While the oil was heating up to 350 degrees, I put together my wet and dry ingredients for the fried chicken. I didn’t have any buttermilk (and didn’t want to go to the store), so I used whole milk instead. After frying the chicken, I brought up the temperature of the oil to 375 degrees and put the sweet potato fries in the fryer for about 3 minutes.
Slow Roasted Tomatoes
Over the last week, I harvested over a pound of beautiful tomatoes, and I want to preserve some of them for use later in the week. Ignoring the stifling summer heat, I turned on my oven and roasted my tomatoes for close to 2 hours. I was rewarded for my long, hot and sweaty wait with the sweetest, and arguably, the most intense tomato flavor I have ever tasted. The slow roasting method really brought out the sweetness of the tomatoes, giving them a slightly caramelized, candy-like flavor. Imagine how good it would be to squeeze the roasted garlic on a piece of crusty bread with a spoonful of roasted tomatoes garnished with sprigs of thyme. Yummy!
jalapeño cheese bread
You will all be relieved to hear that there will be no jalapeño posts for awhile since we have used up the few remaining peppers to make this bread and some salsa. To be honest, I only bought the jalapeño seedlings because I thought the little peppers were “cute.” I had no idea that I would harvest more than 50 peppers from them this summer. Through my enjoyable gardening experience, I discovered that I like the flavor of jalapeños, but I am running out of ideas on how to use them. Of all the jalapeño recipes I’ve tried, this one’s my favorite. I had a slice right out of the oven with some butter and it was fantastic!
Jalapeño Cheese Bread
Yields 1 loaf
Ingredients:
1 packet yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/4 cup warm water
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg
2 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more if needed
1 cup semolina flour
1 cup of buttermilk
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
1 cup (or more, to taste) jalapenos, stemmed, seeded, and diced
1 1/2 cups of cheddar cheese (or more, to taste), grated
Method:
Mix together the yeast and water in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter, egg and buttermilk and add to yeast and water. Add the salt, sugar and bread flour to the liquids and mix well. Then incorporate the semolina flour to the dough. If the dough is too wet, gradually add more bread flour 1/4 cup at a time. Place dough on a floured surface and knead for five to ten minutes until dough is smooth. Form dough into a ball and place into a bowl greased with butter. Cover the bowl, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size—about an hour.
Turn out dough on a floured surface, and slowly knead into the dough the jalapenos and cheese, a little bit at a time. (I used the “lazy swirl method” I described yesterday since I really didn’t want to knead the dough again, hence, the swirly appearance.) When cheese and jalapenos are incorporated into the dough, place dough into a greased bread loaf pan. You can also sprinkle semolina in the bread pan for additional friction. Cover the pan and let dough rise until doubled in size (it should be at the top or a bit over the top of the pan)—about an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake bread for 40-45 minutes on a center rack (when you thump the top and it sounds hollow, the bread is done). Let cool for ten minutes, and then slide it out of the pan, slice and enjoy!
Adapted from HomesickTexan
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Feta Cheese and Olive Swirl Bread
I was actually in the middle of making another type of bread when the idea for this came to me. I opened the refrigerator for something and caught a glimpse of the feta cheese. Hmmm! How about a feta cheese and kalamata olive bread? Chris loves this combination so I decided to surprise him. I took just enough dough from the bread I was working on to make this one, but I provided the full recipe below for those of you who might be interested. The recipe for the dough is adapted from a recipe by Sheila Lukins, the author of The Silver Palate Cookbook, but the method I am sharing below is my lazy way to incorporate flavors to dough in an evenly-distributed manner without any additional kneading.
Pickled Jalapeño Peppers
So far this summer, I have harvested about 2 1/2 pounds of jalapeños. Pickling these medium-hot peppers in vinegar is a fast and easy way to preserve them. These are much better than the canned ones that are found at grocery stores. To retain their crisp texture, jalapeños are picked once they turn a shiny dark green color. If left on the plant, the peppers will eventually turn red. It is best to pickle jalapeños before they change colors because fully-ripe red ones, while sweeter, end up softer than the green ones.
Watermelon Agua Fresca
Agua fresca, Spanish for “fresh water”, is a non-alcoholic beverage made from fresh fruits like watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, and papaya. It is typically sold by street vendors and restaurants all over Mexico and is usually ladled from large barrel-shaped glass jars. Traditionally, agua fresca is made by combining fruit, water, and sugar. This version, agua de sandia, or literally “watermelon water”, is the perfect way to use this summer’s juicy, ripe watermelon. It’s a colorful and festive alternative to lemonade or iced tea.
For me, having a refreshing drink like an agua de sandia while sitting out in the backyard is a great way to unwind after a long and busy day.
Homemade Pop Tarts
Kellogg’s Pop Tarts have been a convenient breakfast treat for many Americans growing up. Adults turn nostalgic at the mere mention of them, usually recounting days when they ate their favorite flavor on the bus on the way to school. I know it may be shock for many of you, but I didn’t have my first Pop Tart until after I got married. Chris used to love the Chocolate Pop Tarts and he would eat them with ice cream. I tried one, but I didn’t really care for the dry, cardboard-like pastry covered in super sweet icing. A couple of days ago, while perusing one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen written by Deb Perelman, I stumbled on her entry for homemade pop tarts. Those pop tarts looked so cute, especially naked without that coat of icing. I knew that I had to make them this weekend.
Tomato Jam
A couple of days ago, I visited the New York Times’ column The Minimalist by Mark Bittman to find some new recipes to try. If you don’t know him, Mark Bittman is a food journalist, former editor of the Cook’s Illustrated magazine, and an author of several cookbooks, most notably How to Cook Everything. He also collaborated with one of my favorite chefs, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, on two cookbooks, Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. He has been an advocate of the minimalist approach to cooking, preparing dishes that are simple, straightforward, and unfussy. He’s definitely my kind of cook. Anyway, I was looking for recipes with tomatoes since I had a good supply of them. I ran across this article and accompanying recipe and was immediately intrigued. The recipe was pretty straightforward and I had all of the ingredients in the pantry already. Plus, the photo that accompanied the recipe was stunning – the deep red color of the homemade tomato jam made it irresistible.
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