Comfort Food for Cold Weather
Chicken Pot Pie recipe from me (Amy Campbell), Hopping John Recipes from the late Minnie Pearl and Phila Hach.
Today we are setting the table with Comfort Food for Cold weather that is also economical. The sort of food that we can make a big pot of and eat on for several days. I (Amy Campbell) share my recipe for chicken pot pie that came about after a failed pot of chicken and dumplings. and I also share 2 Hoppin’ John recipes from two late great Ladies Minnie Pearl and Phila Hach also Mary Dee Dee Constantine also shares a Hoppin John Recipe from Lisa Smith.
I hope these recipes will be something that will help to stretch your food dollar and keep you and your loved one’s warm during these cold days.
For Recipes - keep scrolling below -
Links:
Chicken Pot Pie recipe. This recipe came to me in my kitchen as a result of a failed pot of chicken and dumplins. My dumplings fell apart. Dissolved in the chicken stock, and I decided it makes for the perfect base for chicken pot pie! This is a recipe that will make 8 - 10 cups of thickened chicken stock with chicken. Here are your ingredients -
- 1 package ready-made crust (the kind in the long box with 2 crusts rolled up in it) I usually find these near the biscuit section of the grocery store.
- 1 whole, uncooked medium-sized chicken.
- 1 package of skinless, whole chicken breasts 3.
- 3 Lg. Carrots, peeled, diced.
- 3 stalks celery, diced.
- 4 large russet potatoes
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 Lg. yellow onions, diced
- 1 tsp. whole pepper corns
- 1 tsp. Dried, powdered thyme
- 1 tsp. fresh cracked pepper
- 1 tsp. dried, crushed rosemary
- 2 tsp. kosher salt - I like to use J.Q. Dickinson salt works salt. It is from Maulden West Virginia, and it comes from an ancient ocean that used to be there. It is crunchy and adds such a surprising flavor to your food. They do not pay me to brag on them. I’ve put a link to them in the show notes. J.Q. Dickinson salt works
- Garlic salt
- 1 pkg. frozen green peas.
- 1/2 c. shredded Asiago cheese.
- Bisquick, or Jiffy baking mix.
- 2/3 c. sweet milk, or buttermilk.
- 1 egg Equipment- 1 regular-sized, non-stick frying pan. 1 large colander 2 large soup pots, 1with a lid 1 large glass bowl 1 Lg. slotted spoon 1 tongs 1 large, deep dish glass pie plate, or 9 x 9 glass baking pan, (a metal pan is ok if that is all you have) 1 pastry brush Directions: Step 1, cook the chicken
- Place your soup pot on top of the stove, and set the eye to medium.
- Sautee onion, 1 of the carrots, celery, bay leaves, 1/2 tsp. rosemary, 1 tsp. kosher salt, 1/2 tsp. thyme, 1/2 tsp. cracked pepper, 1/2 tsp peppercorns and garlic until fragrant.
- Add whole chicken (be certain to remove the giblet package from chicken cavity)
- Add filtered water to cover chicken. Bring to a boil for 2 -3 minutes, reduce heat to a simmer, cover with the lid and simmer on top of the stove for 2 - 3 hours. Step 2 Remove the chicken
- Using a large slotted spoon and tongs, remove the chicken and all bones and place them into the large glass bowl so it can cool off a bit.
- Place a 2nd large soup pot in the sink with a large colander in it.
- Poor the remaining chicken stock and all of the stuff the chicken cooked in through the colander so that you have clean chicken stock without the vegies and peppercorns or bay leaves, or chicken debris in it.
- Return this pot to the stove, simmer. Step 3 Make dumplings
- Measure out about 2 cups of baking mix, add milk, and stir into a loose dough.
- Use your hands to make the dough firm enough to make biscuits.
- With your hands, pull off golf ball-sized hunks of biscuit dough and into the simmering chicken stock.
- Put a lid on this and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Step 4, Pull chicken off of chicken carcass
- Once you have your dumplings in the pot simmering, the chicken should be cool enough to handle. I use non-latex gloves to handle the still very warm chicken which helps me not to burn my fingers as badly. Step 5, Add the chicken to the pot.
- At this point, you should have dissolved dumplings and a soup pot full of thick, chicken stock and chicken.
At this point, you can eat this as is, or use this as the base for your chicken pot pie!
To make the chicken pot pie - Now, I like a pot pie with plenty of stuffing inside. This pot pie is chaulked full of goodness and is not only crust like most pot pies you find out there. This one will stick to your ribs.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Directions -
- Spray your pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.
- Take 1 of the crusts and line the bottom and sides of the pie plate with this crust.
- Sprinkle a layer of shredded asiago cheese on the bottom of the pie crust (help to make it extra flavorful and less soggy of a crust)
- Place your 3 cubed carrots in a 2 quart covered glass bowl with a little bit of filtered water and microwave to steam for 2 minutes.
- Peel and cube your 4 russet potatoes, add on top of carrots, cover, and microwave to steam for 2 more minutes.
- Poor the bag of frozen peas on top of this. I use the whole bag (about 2 cups)
- Cover and let these veggies continue to steam on the counter.
- Cut the 3 chicken breasts up into 1/2 inch pieces.
- Heat the frying pan to medium heat, place the chicken breasts in the pan, sprinkle with garlic salt, and cook until no longer pink. I stir them fairly often. This takes about 4-6 minutes. *You will get about 1 cup of liquid from this cooking process. I cool this and save this for chicken stock to use later. In a mixing bowl, add cooked chicken breasts, drained steamed vegetables, and 2- 3 ladles of the chicken and dumpling mixture together until you have your favorite amount of creamy sauce. Assemble the Pot Pie
- Spoon the chicken/veggie mixture into the prepared crust. I like to heap plenty of this mixture into the crust. I heap mine to about an inch over the height of the crust.
- I then sprinkle this mixture with 1/2 tsp. of ground thyme, and 1/2 tsp. of ground Rosemary, and a little black pepper.
- Unroll the 2nd crust, place over the pie mixture, crimp the bottom and top crust edges together to close.
- Cut 4 slots on top of the crust to allow steam to escape during cooking. Egg white wash -
- Separate the yolk from the white. Add 1 tsp water to egg white. Wisk until the egg white is smooth and not stringy.
- Brush the top crust and crimps well with egg wash.
- Sprinkle top with a little kosher salt for a crunchy surprise texture.
- Place on the middle rack of a pre-heated 350 degree oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the pie is bubbling around the edges and the crust is golden brown.
- Makes 8 servings. Or in our house with my husband and myself, this will last 1 day and for lunch the next day. I have never made this ahead and frozen it so I do not know if it tastes a good frozen and reheated.
With the remainder of your chicken and dumplin mixture. Measue 2 cups to each zip lock baggie or glass container and freeze. This way, you can have about 4 or 5 baggies of Chicken Pot Pie base to work with. I think it tastes better and more rich than making a butter and flower cream sauce as most recipies recommend for Chicken pot pie. I have placed the directions for this on my website at TFT.com If you make this, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy!
Hopping john casserole (from "Minnie Pearl")
Yield: 8 servings
Measure Ingredient
- 1 cup Dried black-eyed peas (or two 15 oz. cans)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 dash Of cayenne pepper
- 3 cups Cold water
- 1 cup Long-grain rice (uncooked)
- 2 cups Cold water
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Bacon drippings
- 4 slices Of bacon, cut in 1 inch strips
- ½ cup Chopped onion
If using dried peas, wash and discard broken or dark ones and any foreign matter. Place in a saucepan with 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and 3 cups of cold water. Cook over high heat about 5 minutes.
Reduce heat. Simmer about 2 hours or until soft but not mushy. When done, drain. Reserve liquid. If using canned peas, drain and reserve liquid.
In another saucepan, combine uncooked rice, 2 cups cold water, and salt. Cook over high heat for 5 minutes. Reduce heat. Cover tightly. Simmer for 15 minutes or until most of the water is absorbed and the rice is almost tender.
Meanwhile, in skillet, cook bacon pieces and onion until bacon is lightly brown and onion is transparent.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 1½ quart casserole dish.
Combine cooked, drained peas, ½ cup liquid from peas, and rice.
Pour cooked bacon, onion and bacon drippings over rice and peas.
Cover tightly. Bake about 20 minutes. Makes about 8 servings.
From "Minnie Pearl Cooks, " p. 162.
Note: It is an old Southern tradition to eat black-eyed peas/"hoppin' John" on New Years Day in order to have good luck for the whole year.
Some say you will have one day of good luck for each black-eyed pea eaten on New Year's Day.
