Mess of Greens

full bellies | warm welcomes

comfort food

Cool Nights call for Pot Pie: Quail & Chicken Pot Pie

by Leave a Comment

img_4402

So, when the weather turns cooler, we break out the cool weather food. chicken & dumplins, pot roast, and of course, pot pies. I have a pretty excellent and easy pot pie recipe that I made on the reg, but since we had some leftover quail meat AND my mama had been teaching me about the ease that is bechamel sauce, I decided to spice things up a little. Enter this baby.

Not only was I able to pull it together in about 30 minutes (minus baking time) my mama lent her artistic talents to supper and covered the top in tiny, pretty leaves of crust.

If you don’t have quail, sub in a little extra chicken, and make SURE to serve it with sweet potatoes and butter beans. Happy fall, y’all!

img_4405  img_4408

Cool Nights call for Pot Pie: Quail & Chicken Pot Pie
 
Save Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 6
What You Need
  • FOR THE FILLING
  • 2 chicken breasts
  • Wings and Legs from 10 quail
  • 4½ Tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 4 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour
  • 1½ Cups Milk
  • ⅛ teaspoon dried Oregano
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • 1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables (onions, peas, carrots, celery), Thawed
  • 6 button mushrooms, sliced
  • FOR THE PIE
  • 1 package of premade pie crusts (2 crusts total)
  • 1 egg
  • 2 Tablespoons Milk
What to Do
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Boil the chicken and quail until cooked all the way through
  3. Shred the chicken and pull the quail meat from the bone. Discard the bones.
  4. In a sauce pan, heat 4 Tablespoons of the butter until simmering, and whisk in the flour quickly
  5. Stir and let it bubble for about 1 minute while it thickens. Add in the milk a little at a time, stirring.
  6. Cook for about 2 more minutes to let the sauce thicken, then season with salt, pepper, and oregano.
  7. In a separate pan, heat ½ tablespoon of butter
  8. Add in the thawed vegetables and fresh mushrooms and sautee until softer but still slightly firm. Season with salt and pepper.
  9. Place one of the two pie crusts in a pie plate or deep, round casserole dish.
  10. In a mixing bowl, combine the chicken and quail meat and the vegetables, then pour the mixture into the casserole dish.
  11. Pour the Sauce over the top and allow to seep down.
  12. Cover with the second pie crust.
  13. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and the 2 tablespoons of milk to make a thin egg wash.
  14. Using a pastry brush, paint the top of your crust for a golden brown color.
  15. Bake the pie for at least 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and bubbling. If you find the top is turning TOO brown, cover with a piece of foil while it continues to bake.

img_4411

img_4415

Classic Red Beans and Rice

by 1 Comment

OH. MY. STARS. it’s been too long.i’ve had three posts raring to go since late January and then things got busy and the last thing I’ve wanted to do when I got home was turn on my computer…and then I got into Game Of Thrones on Amazon… but it’s time. I miss blogging about food, and taking pictures of food, and just generally talking about food. (plus… my pretty friend Fancy flattered me by asking when I was going to post something new. Fancy, here you go!)
This recipe was supposed to come out around the time of Mardi Gras, since what’s more Louisiana that Red Beans and Rice? Even if the weather has gotten a little warmer (but not much! what’s up with the freaskishly cold weather??) and the confetti and beads are long gone from Beale Street, this recipe still tastes divine. It’s a combination of my grandmother’s classic Louisiana recipe, the Cook’s Illustrated test kitchen version, and the one from the River Road Recipes Cookbook.  Read on.
What you Need:
To cook:
Andoille Sausage (1 package, or a 1.5 lbs)
1 tablespoon of oil
2 onions
5 garlic cloves
1 green pepper
2 ribs of celery
1 cup of Camellia brand dried red beans (washed, dried, and soaked)
2 table spoons beef stock
3-5 cups of water
2 squirts of ketchup
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper
 
To Serve
1 bunch green onions
Hot sauce
1/2 cup of rice per serving
What to Do:
Obviously, begin by rinsing and soaking the beans (overnight is best, but 6 hours will do in a pinch. Basically, you want them full of water and tender.)
Dice the garlic, green pepper, onion, and celery. In a large stock pot, sautee’ the onion in the oil until translucent then add in the other three ingredients to release the flavor, stirring for 1-2 minutes.
At the same time, boil the sausage, pricking after a 5-7 minutes to release the oil. I think this makes it just a little bit healther since it gets rid of the excess fat. Once the sausage is parboiled, cut it into 1/2″ or 1″ rounds and brown in a skillet.
Remove from the heat and put it aside to add in later.

 

Add the Stock and liquid to the large stock pot with the vegetables. Add in the bay leaf, the red beans, the red vinegar, the squeezes of ketchup for good measure, and the sausage. Simmer on low heat for 2- 2.5 hours. The longer and slower this cooks, the more flavorful and creamier the red beans will be.

Once the liquid has cooked down somewhat and the beans are soft, take about 2 cups of the beans and liquid and using a food processor or blender, puree’ that amount. Add the pureed beans back into the pot with the rest of the beans. This makes them even creamier and smooth.

Serve with hot sauce, vinegar, green onions, and white rice.

 

 

 

The Perfect Comfort Food: Chicken and Rice

by 1 Comment

Chicken and Rice
Serves 6-8
My grandmother was known for her comfort food. She was also one of the warmest, softest, most comforting women that I’ve ever known, so it makes sense that her food would make you feel warm and loved, too. In the summer we snapped fresh green beans together for her to cook all afternoon, and when I’d spend the night with her when my parents were out of town she’d make me chicken & dumplins or creamed chicken and we’d pile up in her bed with my cousins and watch Golden Girls, M.A.S.H. or Designing Women and she’d sew.
I miss her everyday.
It’s to her credit that when Boone and I got married that the first meals I cooked him as a bonafide wife were things out of the notebook she gave me.  It started out as a place for her to write down my favorite recipes in her perfect little cursive handwriting. It turns out that the recipes tell me to measure in units like “pinches” and “a little bit” but I watched her enough times to be able to figure that out. One of those recipes, and the one that my mom also makes that is perfect for blanket weather and when you need a hug. Chicken and rice is one of Boone’s favorites, and I made it a few weeks ago on one of the first cold nights.
 What you need:
4-6 pieces of chicken (dark meat is best here)
1 stick oleo (I used 1/2 stick of butter since I LOVE the flavor…although no healthier. boo.)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cans beef consomme pluc one cup water (or 3 tablespoons beef stock dissolved in 3 cups water…i use better than bouillon)
1 Tablespoon onion flakes (i go with 1 chopped onion instead)
1 Tablespoon parsley flakes
1 can mushroom stems and pieces
1 package of slivered almonds
What to do:
Preheat your Oven to 350 degrees.
Season and brown the chicken in the butter in a large stock pot or dutch oven. Set the chicken aside. pour a bit of the beef stock into the pan to release the goodness from the chicken. Using a little of the butter, saute’ the onions in the same pan, and melt the rest of the butter in the pot. Pour in the rice and stir it for a few minutes to brown it. Once the color has turned a bit brown in color (which somehow releases this really delicious flavor of the rice) then combine all of the other ingredients into the dutch oven…but wait on the almonds.

After you’ve poured in the stock, the seasonings, and the mushrooms, check to make sure that you have enough liquid in the pan with the beef stock to cover the rice just a bit. Put the Chicken on top of all of the rice mixture, and then sprinkle the almonds on the top. Cover and bake for about an hour, at 350 or until the rice is cooked all the way through and the liquid has been absorbed. It’s all i can do not to eat forkfulls of uncooked rice in anticipation of the finished product.

the almonds add the perfect crunch and the rest is warm and comforting. our family serves this with sweet potato sticks and butter beans. something about the sweetness of the potatoes and the saltiness of the butter beans and the savory chicken and rice makes the PERFECT autumnal night.

 

Do you have a favorite comfort food meal?