Have I mentioned yet that one of my goals this year is to bring back Sunday dinner? I haven’t managed it yet, but I’m totally on it. (It’s the thought that counts, right?)
I do love the idea of a big bustling Sunday dinner. So when Good Bite and Campbell’s Kitchen asked 5 of us food blogging types to come up with a “Sunday Supper” idea using Campbell’s Condensed “Great for Cooking” soups, I agreed – if I win, I’ll be able to donate $1,000 to the Calgary Inter-faith Food Bank, who has seen a significant increase in demand this year. And of course for every $1 donated, the Food Bank can distribute $4 worth of food. (41% of their clients are children.) It’s a great cause, and I try to do whatever I can to support it.
So I came up with a simple pot pie recipe (and called it a cobbler because it’s topped with cheesy biscuits instead of mashed potatoes or pastry – it’s all in the branding, right?) made easy with any number of creamy soups – I like the lower fat, lower sodium ones. Total comfort food. This makes great use of leftover roast chicken or turkey (any meat roasted on the bone is more flavourful than, say, skinless, boneless chicken breasts cooked on their own) and any number of veg – load it up!
Roast Chicken or Turkey Cobbler with Cheese Biscuits
canola or olive oil, for cooking
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped (keep the leaves, too!)
2 Tbsp. butter
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 tsp. dried
1 can 98% Fat Free Campbells Cream of Chicken Soup
1 rotisserie chicken, meat pulled off and chopped or shredded, or about 4 cups chopped leftover turkey
1/2-1 cup frozen peas
Biscuits:
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1 cup grated old cheddar or Gouda or 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
In a large, heavy skillet, heat a drizzle of oil over medium-high heat and saute the onion, carrot and celery for about 5 minutes, until soft. Add the butter and mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms release their liquid, then the vegetables start to turn golden. Sprinkle with flour and thyme and cook for another minute.
Stir in the can of soup along with a can full of water, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, and stirring until smooth. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes, until thickened. (If it’s too thick, stir in another half or whole can of water.) Stir in the roasted chicken or turkey and peas and pour into a baking dish that will accommodate it.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
To make the biscuits: In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add the milk and canola oil and stir by hand just until you have a soft dough.
On a lightly floured surface, pat or roll the dough into a 9” x 14” rectangle. Stir the garlic into the melted butter and spread over the dough, then sprinkle with cheese. Starting from a long side, roll tightly jelly-roll style into a log. Cut into 8-12 biscuits using dental floss or a serrated knife.
Lay the biscuits on top of the chicken mixture, leaving a bit of space between them (they will rise in the oven), and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the the biscuits are puffed and golden brown and filling is bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serves 8.
Seriously, why is this not a thing? Particularly considering frosting shots are a thing. I can’t think of anything I’d rather down a shooter of – what’s better taken in mouthful-sized doses than gravy perfection? Certainly not Sour Puss or tequila.
There was a Slow Food kitchen party tonight at Infuse with biodynamic farmer (and ultra sweet guy) Kris Vester. Wade roasted chickens (taste test: a heritage breed vs. the big-boobed kind) and potatoes, then Berkshire pork chops over braised purple cabbage while he and Kris chatted about food and politics and more food. I snuck out before dessert (but not before wangling a pork chop bone in the kitchen) to come home and fill you in, then prepare to do a talk at the Glenbow tomorrow – part of a new “Out for Lunch” series. I just hope I’m not out TO lunch.
This was me today – a piggie in a blanket – wrapped in fleece, zoning out, sipping Belgian chocolate rooibos and eating toast and jam (and later, nachos with chili con queso and chocolate cake) like it was going out of style.
(Wait. Honestly? Does food go so horribly out of style that one might allow trends to dictate their choice of menu? I think not. Then again, there’s tomato aspic and salmon mousse. Then again, they’re not delicious. Some things dated have moved beyond their eras by virtue of their deliciousness. Case in point: those cocktail meatballs with grape jelly and chili sauce. Love them.)
Hey, I just segued right into the subject of 70s cocktail hour – the theme of the birthday party I cooked for last night – without even meaning to. That was easy.
In honour of the 1970s I made devilled eggs, pigs in blankets, meatballs, cocktail wienies, angels on horseback (dates stuffed with Parmesan, wrapped in bacon and baked), fondue – the entire menu was pretty cheeseball. Oh hey, another segue way.
What we have here is a traditional pecan-encrusted cheese ball made with a large tub of spreadable cream cheese (blocks would have been fine, too) and a couple cups of grated cheddar, spiked with a bit of Worcestershire, finely chopped green onion, and S & P.
For the pigs in blankets, I couldn’t bring myself to go so far as to use crescent rolls – I instead mixed up a batch of biscuits, tossing another handful of grated cheddar in with the dry ingredients before adding the milk, then rolled the dough out about 1/2″ thick and cut it into strips, which I wrapped around halved dogs and baked at 350F until golden. We generally aren’t much of a hot dog-eating family (much to W’s utter disappointment – were it up to him they would constitute our breakfast, lunch and dinner), but I’d make these again, next time W requests (read: begs for) them. Mike suggested wrapping the cheesy biscuit dough around pepperoni sticks (like the honey-garlic bison ones from Valta) or smokies, which is a capital idea indeed.
After the party I was not-so-fashionably late for Tonic for a Cause down at Velvet, where I further aggravated my Marge Simpson voice by yelling over the band until the wee hours; and today was a Sunday full of laundry, tidying, haircuts and homework before a belated birthday dinner for my Mom and sister. Dinner: homemade burgers, salad, oven fries and nachos with chili con queso, in honour of the Super Bowl. And chocolate cake – there must be chocolate cake. (I kind of miss keeping you up to date on our dinners. Food seems to have become an afterthought this week. Not so much that I might have forgotten to eat, mind you.)
In other news, I just read another lovely post about the Blog Aid cookbook, and am completely wowed that five minutes ago it was at 1069 copies. I had secretly aimed for 1000, and we blew that number out of the water in only four days. Wow. Just wow.
I MADE THESE. I think the only thing I’m prouder of making is W.
I’ve been racking my brain, trying to come up with some small way to thank you. And it occurred to me I do have a little something – something that will change your life. (Most of your lives, anyway.) It comes in the form of a secret. Aren’t secrets just the best? And I have one just for you.
The secret is that you, yes YOU, can make flaky pain au chocolat from scratch. Seriously. And it’s not even that hard, nor does it take that much time. You can be a superhero without even having to wear tights. How to Win Friends and Influence People, with food.
I swear I’m not making this up. I further swear you do not require the monogrammed initials M.S. nor pastry chef certification to make these. From scratch. Meaning no frozen puff pastry dough to start with. No cheating. For real and true.
You’re probably used to working with butter, flour, eggs and chocolate, right? You can knead soft dough and roll it out into a rectangle, right? Yeah, you can totally make these.
Stop rolling your eyes. It’s not just easy for me. It’s easy, period. The only way I can prove it to you is by convincing you to try it. It’s an easy, soft dough that you just roll out, spread with butter, fold like a letter, chill, roll and fold; repeat. The instructions look long, but it’s really pretty simple. And there are probably plenty of things you could do with the dough besides wrap it around chocolate before you bake it. And it makes enough for you to bake a bunch of pain au chocolat and still have some left for something else. Or to wrap and stash in the freezer for next weekend.
Pain au Chocolat
Danish Dough:
3/4 cup milk, warmed
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter, cold
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup(ish) good-quality chocolate (chopped, chips or squares, halved – I used Bernard Callebaut semi-sweet drops)
In a large bowl, stir together the milk and yeast. Stir in the sugar, eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add a cup of the flour and the salt, then add the rest of the flour gradually, stirring until it’s incorporated. Knead the dough on a lightly floured countertop for about 5 minutes, until smooth. Transfer to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap; chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat the butter and flour with an electric mixer for a couple minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until smooth. Set aside (don’t refrigerate).
When the dough has chilled, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle that is about 13″x18″ and 1/4″ thick. Spread the butter evenly over the right two-thirds of the dough. Fold the left third of the dough over, covering half the butter, then fold the right side over, as if you were folding a letter in thirds. (Unlike a letter, the dough ends should line up, so that it’s folded in three.) Cover the dough in plastic wrap and put it back into the fridge for 30 minutes.
Put the dough back on the floured surface lengthwise, with the open sides to the left and right. Roll it out into another 13″x18″ rectangle, 1/4″ thick. Fold the left third over the middle, then the right third over the middle. (This is referred to as “turns”. To keep track of each fold -or turn- press your finger into the dough at the edge to make two marks – you can do this each time you roll and fold so that you know how many times you’ve done it.) Chill the dough for another 30 minutes.
Roll, fold and refrigerate the dough two more times, so that you’ve done it four times total. Cover and refrigerate for at least 5 hours, or overnight. It can also be frozen at this point for up to 4 months.
To assemble the pain au chocolat, take the dough out of the fridge and roll it on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4″ thick. You can cut the dough into rectangles as large or as small as you like – we made them on the small side, cutting the dough into strips and then crosswise so that each piece was about the size of a business card. Put a little pile of chocolate, or a chunk of it, along the middle of the pastry, roll the sides up and place each one seam-side down on an ungreased baking sheet. If you have time, cover loosely with plastic or a tea towel and let them proof for an hour or two. (This is not absolutely necessary- we did ours in a rush!)
Preheat the oven to 400F. Bake the pain au chocolat for 15 minutes, until golden. (If they are larger, they may need more time.) Try to be a good person and share with your family and friends. Makes about 3 dozen.
UPDATE: Over 800 Blog Aid cookbooks have sold! Thank you!
I’m not sure how to start this post without a wow. WOWowOWowowoWOWOWOWowoWOWOwow.
As you know, the Blog Aid cookbook uploaded sometime around the middle of the night last night. When the alarm went off at 7 this morning I bolted awake, nervous, like you might feel on Christmas morning if you were terrified of Santa Claus – completely excited but a little bit panicked at the same time about what might happen if you come out from under the covers.
When I first checked, there were 65 books sold. 133 by 9 AM. 180 by 10 AM. 324 by 3:30, and by the 6 o’clock news 416 books had sold.
I really have been choked up all day. I don’t even know what to say but thank you. Not only for me, personally, but for all of us, for each other, for everyone in Haiti or with friends and family there. I want to deliver each book with a hug and a homemade pie. I want to say something wise and riveting (which is difficult to compose while listening to W in the bathtub singing his extendamix version of I LOVE MY BUM!) but the clock is ticking and at least a dozen people, including George Brookman, have emailed me in the last hour demanding I GET SOME SLEEP!! Excellent advice, I do believe I’ll take it.
Really, this is what it’s all about. This and food. And raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.
Final pre-bed tally: 488 books sold. That translates with matched funds to well over $20,000 CAD.
Wow.
And look! I finally made a cute little button. (Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to use it again.)
