Chicken Tacos

Here is another easy one!  These chicken tacos were inspired by the recipe from the Homesick Texan.  I adapted it to include more of my favorite ingredients (cilantro, fresh organic grape tomatoes, and lime) and made it a little less spicy than the original recipe.  It was a hit at my house!

Chicken Tacos

1 whole chicken, cut into quarters
4 cloves garlic, peeled and whole
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut into quarters
1 stalk of celery, cut in half
1 leafy stem of cilantro
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon of peppercorns
1 tablespoon of kosher salt

Ingredients for the sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth
1 pint organic grape tomatoes
1 chile -canned chipotle chiles en adobo
1/4 medium yellow onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 - 1/3 cup fresh cilantro
1 lime - juice from 1/2 or 1 lime
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Tortillas, lime wedges, avocado, and sour cream for serving

Place the chicken in a large pot along with the garlic, onion, celery, cilantro, bay leaf, pepper and salt. Cover with water, bring the pot to a boil and then simmer 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the pot and when cool enough to handle, remove the skin and shred either with your hands or two forks. This can be done a day or two in advance.

Strain the broth (can also be stored in frig for a few days.).  Reserve 1/2 cup of chicken broth.  Place remainder in quart-size freezer bags, in 1 or 2 cup increments, for future use!

Place 1/2 cup of the chicken broth into a blender. Add to the blender the tomatoes, chipotle chile, onion, garlic, cumin, cilantro, and lime juice. Blend until smooth. In a medium-sized pot, heat sauce and chicken over medium low heat.  Cook while occasionally stirring for 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and adjust seasonings. With the heat still on, add the shredded chicken to the pot and stir until the chicken is well coated and has been re-heated.

Serve chicken with warmed-up corn or flour tortillas, sour cream, avocado, cilantro, and  lime.

Chicken (or Turkey) & Mushroom Pie Boone Tavern Inspired

This wonderful dish was inspired by the recipe for Boone Tavern Chicken Pie.  My mother attended Berea College in Berea, Kentucky and worked at their Historic Boone Tavern Restaurant during her undergraduate years at Berea.  She owns a wonderful cookbook written by then Boone Tavern owner and her one-time boss, Richard Hougen.  The Look No Further cookbook was first published in 1951 and you can still find a few copies on Amazon.  I think the key to this recipe is the Fricassee sauce --I followed the recipe exactly for this part and then used Michael Ruhlman's 3-2-1 pie dough recipe.  This recipe is perfect for leftover turkey.  Yum!

Chicken or Turkey Mushroom Pie

2 cups of cooked chicken or turkey cut into bite-size pieces

2 cups of fricassee sauce

1 pound of baby bella (or any other type) mushrooms, sliced

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 cups chicken or turkey broth (heated)

1/4 cup chicken or turkey fat (skimmed from chilled broth)

1/4 cup flour

pie dough -enough for two 9-inch pies (one for bottom, one for top)

1 egg, beaten (for brushing top of pie crust)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  To make fricassee sauce:  heat chicken or turkey fat in sauce pan until melted -whisk in the flour.  Allow flour and fat to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.   Add the hot broth and whisk until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook for about 5 more minutes.

Saute' sliced mushrooms in frying pan in a little olive oil and butter - salt and pepper to taste. 

Roll out pie dough and place into pie pan with about 1/2 inch overhang.  Fill dough with chicken, mushrooms, and pour fricassee sauce over chicken and mushrooms.  Roll out other pie dough and place over the top.  Pinch edges of bottom and top dough together.  Brush beaten egg over top crust and make two or three slits to allow steam to be released during cooking.

Bake for 40-50 minutes until crust is golden brown.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

Little people always love to help!   Someone made their own little clementine tarts.  They were pretty tasty! :)

Turkey Stock

I have been making lots of turkey stock over the past few weeks.  Whole Foods has a large inventory of turkey wings and legs in the meat department these days.  I just can't get enough of this very rich, delicious, and extremely flavorful stock!  I have been making soups, used it for my make-ahead gravy recipe, and will be using it for my stuffing.  I love the dark meat that comes from the legs.  I have been adding it to soups, rice pilaf, and turkey pie - yum!  This is a very easy recipe - just a little bit of work yields amazing results!

Turkey Stock
3-5 lbs of Turkey wings or legs (or a combination of the two)
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
several sprigs of fresh Italian parsley
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut in half
2-3 parsnips, peeled and cut in half
1 teaspoon peppercorns
1 bay leaf
12-16 cups water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Arrange wings/legs in a single layer in a large roasting pan, scatter onions over top. Roast for 1 ½ hours until wings/legs are browned.
Remove wings, legs, and onions from roasting pan to a 5-to 6-qt stock pot. Also add carrots, parsnips, peppercorns, bay leaf, and parsley sprigs to stock pot.
Place roasting pan over moderate heat and add 1 cup water to roasting pan, bring to simmer and stir/scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of roasting pan. Once pan is deglazed add the liquid to stock pot.
Add 10-12 cups of water to stock pot and bring to a boil over moderate heat. Reduce to simmer and let simmer, uncovered for 3 hours.
Remove meat pieces and place in dish or bowl. Save meat for another use. Remove any large vegetables to a bowl and discard. Strain (with strainer and cheese cloth) the broth into a large bowl, pressing any vegetable pieces to extract as much liquid as possible.

Refrigerate broth overnight or until completely cool. OR use right away!  Keeps for a week in the refrigerator or frozen for several months.