Barbecue Chicken (or Bean) Hoecakes with Vinegar Slaw

My poor, sweet husband has been putting up with my changing eating habits over the past year and I think he’s actually getting used to eating mostly vegetarian dinners. But I know he misses chicken, which I haven’t been eating at all. That may change this winter, at least once chicken noodle soup season gets underway, but for now I try to plan some special, meat-centric meals for him now and again. This recipe, from Art Smith, via Bon Appetit, was perfect for both of us. I had Jeff grill some local chicken quarters, though we skipped the smoking step. I also drained, rinsed, and gently mashed a can of pinto beans. The chicken and beans were each mixed with the brown sugar and coffee barbecue sauce, providing me with barbecued bean hoecakes and Jeff with barbecued chicken hoecakes.

I can’t say that the barbecue sauce or slaw were anything special; your favorite recipes or store-bought brands would work well here. But the dish as a whole was excellent. The combination of salty, sweet, and tangy flavors and crispy, saucy, and crunchy textures made for a perfect balance. Beans made a good substitute for the chicken and were also tasty the next day over some brown rice. If you make the sauce, be warned that it is rather chunky and you may wish to give it a spin in a blender/processor if you prefer a smoother texture. Also, my hoecakes may have been too large but I only was able to get four out of a halved recipe so you may wish to increase the amount of batter for this part of the recipe.

Chicken and Dumplings

Wow! I certainly did not intend to skip out on the blog this month. Grad school is kicking my butt this semester. We’ve also been evaluating and modifying our eating habits (meat in particular) so my cooking has been in flux lately. This may be the last chicken recipe you see for a while, as we can’t find a local source that we like. Luckily it’s an incredibly delicious one to end with.

Back in January, I made two big pots of chicken stock, in an effort to clean out some of the chicken backs and wings we had in our freezer. (We do love our chicken parts from Brinkley Farms, which is great news as I don’t know if I could adjust to cooking without chicken stock). I froze some of the stock – so much for cleaning out the freezer-, made chicken noodle soup with some, and used the rest for chicken and dumplings. I’ve made chicken and dumplings quite a few times before but this time I finally got it just right. It is thickened with flour which means it has no added dairy. The dumplings are made with buttermilk, which cut through the doughiness and gave the dish such an excellent combination of flavors.

Chicken Stew

Recipes are rarely perfect from the start; minor tweaks and personal touches usually serve to make them even better. This chicken stew, however, is almost as perfect as it gets. With a velvety sauce, slightly crisp vegetables, and crumbly herb-laced biscuits on top, it is comfort food at its finest. By the way, don’t be fooled by the name. While I’m enchanted by the moniker “chicken stew” this is really just code for a glorified pot pie.

Because we had two leftover chicken carcasses and plenty of leftover chicken meat, I made the stock from scratch and used shredded, leftover chicken rather than roasting the breasts. While this certainly enhanced its flavor, I think it would still be wonderful with roasted chicken breasts and canned stock. I wouldn’t change a thing about the flavors and textures of this dish. The only reason I prefaced my praise about its perfection with the word “almost” is that it contains an ungodly amount of butter. I’m determined, however, to work on that problem next time I make it. If I’m successful, I’ll share my results with you. In the meantime, I urge you to pull this out on a cold, rainy (or snowy!) night this December. I promise it will make you feel warmed and comforted.

Southwestern Shepherd’s Pie

Don’t ask me why I haven’t capitalized on this fact in the past, but it just dawned on me that the library has a wealth of cookbooks available for checkout. I’ve been visiting our downtown branch about every other week lately to check out books on tape for my commute to Raleigh. Each time I visit, I pick out a couple of cookbooks to page through at home in the ensuing weeks. One of my more recent picks was The Foster’s Market Cookbook by Sara Foster. For some reason I don’t have this book, although I do have Fresh Every Day. For those of you not from this area who therefore don’t know about the wonder that is Foster’s Market, check out this website. Be prepared to drool.

This cookbook immediately had about 1/3 of its pages tagged with sticky notes. It was hard for me to pick the first recipe to try. But since my class schedule has been forcing me to prepare meals earlier in the day to reheat when Jeff and I return home, I focused on those that could be prepared entirely in advance. This has meant a lot of casseroles around here. It’s a good thing cooler weather is on the way, because I think my slow cooker is going to be my best friend in the coming months.

Branching Out

In continuing the trend of trying some dishes outside of our comfort zone, we went for this Indian-influenced chicken dish last week. Jeff, not the biggest fan of Indian cuisine, does love tandoori chicken, so I figured this was a good next step. I really loved this recipe. It was very forgiving and impressed me with its well-rounded, vibrant flavor. I didn’t plan ahead very well so I only marinated the chicken for about an hour but it didn’t seem to suffer. Halved, this recipe made enough for both of us with probably a portion and a half left over. We ate it with rice and store-bought naan. Substitutions/omissions are listed in bold.

Cool Weather Comfort

I’ve tried lots and lots of recipes for pot pies before. Veggie, chicken, white-sauced, tomato-sauced, biscuit-topped, pie dough-topped, etc. My favorite is an Ina Garten version with, among other items, fennel, saffron, and butternut squash with a made-from-scratch pastry topping. It is worth the time and effort it takes to pull together, but is definitely a weekend meal.

This was a great shortcut version from Cooking Light. It’s topped with a puff pastry sheet and uses a combination of fresh and frozen vegetables. The herbs gave the lightened white sauce a bigger punch of flavor. I’d imagine you could substitute any of your favorite vegetables for those you aren’t fond of. Enjoy!

Pretzel Chicken

I have a hard time making the same thing with any frequency. For one thing, I really try to cook with what is in season, looks good, and is at the right price point. Also, I have such a huge file of recipes to try, it’s hard to resist picking new ones each week. But most of all, I just get tired of having the same thing over and over again. Whenever J is asked what his favorite meal is, he always replies, “I couldn’t say! Whenever we have something I like, we never have it again, so I can’t choose favorites.” So I do try to make things I know he likes as often as I can. Some are already posted here, like our favorite butter beans and banana bread. Pretzel chicken is another. The pickles totally make this recipe – the sour with the salt from the pretzels is such a great combination. Being a Rachael Ray recipe, it’s pretty quick, about 30 minutes from start to finish. And it tastes good without the cheese sauce, which J avoids. I’ve seen him eat it plain, with ketchup, or even with barbecue sauce. Enjoy!

A Cream Sauce Without the Cream

This summer I was thrown a wonderful bridal shower, at which I was given recipes by all the guests. Do they know me or what? Unfortunately, it’s been taking me a while to cook through them, but I hope to cook them all soon and will post about the ones for which I have permission… one friend’s recipe was a super-top secret family recipe. I don’t think she would appreciate me plastering it all over blogosphere for everyone to see!

J’s aunt gave me a Cooking Light recipe for chicken with a pecan cream sauce. At the top she wrote: “A cream sauce without the cream… thought it would be a good one for J.” It basically calls for making your own pecan butter, which you use as the base for the sauce. The intro at the top says that you can use prepared almond butter in place of the pecan cream. I love pecans and am always looking for ways to use my new food processor (seriously… I don’t know how I lived so long without it). But in a pinch, I’m sure any kind of nut butter would work well. 

Here’s the finished pecan cream:

We enjoyed this meal, though it’s still a little summery outside for this kind of hearty-tasting meal. It came together very quickly, probably in about 20 minutes start to finish. Similar to beef stroganoff, it did taste creamy without the cream! The color just isn’t that appetizing, so excuse the pictures.