Switching gears, the cabbage family. Big and diverse and super healthy, I decided to start off this week with a swiss chard, part of the cabbage family, taking center stage. This slab-style pie makes a great light lunch, a snack or even an appetizer. I personally also think it would be a great thing to bring to a picnic or a potluck as it can be enjoyed hot or at room temperature.
Here’s another Chicken dish for “Chicken Week” in the current Cook/Bake-a-long. Hearty comfort food for a cold February weekend with another round of snow incoming. Sauteed mushrooms and baby spinach, mixed with “left over” rotisserie chicken in a creamy bechamel sauce. Lots of fontina cheese to top it off. Feeds a crowd or plenty of leftovers. Very yummy.
Dinner tonight night was this absolutely delicious Tourtes Poulet et Champignons (French Chicken and Mushroom Pie). It was seriously delicious. Flavorful and juicy chicken thighs (so dark meat, though you could also use chicken breast in this recipe) and mushrooms, in a creamy white wine thyme sauce, in a lovely puff pastry (both bottom and top crusts). The trick is to not have the bottom crust sog out, so the sauce has to be just perfect and not too much of it. Very, very rich. This recipe is for a full sized one but I made one a little smaller and even that will be dinner again tomorrow!
Sometimes, when it is cold like it has been this January and February — I mean, disproportionately cold! — you just want some hearty soup and this one fits the bill. Hearty, a little bit spicy (and easy to bump up the spice with additional jalapeños or hot sauce). It’s nutritious and kept me warm all evening.
Staying on my “Hand Pie” kick, here is a recipe for making a whole lot and freezing them. It’s a “from scratch” recipe — meaning first make your curry, then make your hand pies, but you can easily just make hand pies from any leftover curry that you might have. Just the other day, I purposefully saved some butter chicken to make some additional hand pies. Easy and always great to have in the freezer for a quick lunch.