As I've stressed here more than once, and as I always tell my Cooking Matters students, when you're making a roast of any kind you should double your recipe (which hardly takes any more effort) to ensure that you have some easy leftovers to use later in the week. So it was some time ago when I roasted two chickens for Sunday dinner figuring that at the very least I'd have some tasty morsels leftover to use for lunch over a couple of days. As it turned out, the girls returned home late from travel and missed Sunday dinner, leaving me with lots of chicken to re-purpose later in the week.
On a trip to the market two days later I came across some delicious looking buttermilk biscuits in the bakery and immediately thought of using them instead of a pie crust in this pie-less version of one of my favorite dishes, chicken pot pie. This pot pie filling is a short-hand version of the one I made for my Chicken Pot Pie – Provencal, and can be used in so many different ways. If you want the full-on pie experience, spoon the filling into a few ramekins, top with your favorite short pastry dough (or the one from my "provencal" recipe), brush with an egg-wash and bake. Like the open-faced idea but don't have access to ready made biscuits and can't be bothered to make your own, just serve the filling over a couple slices of toast as my Mom used to do for us when she made Chicken a-la-King when I was a kid. You could also serve it over your favorite mashed spuds or atop a mound of rice….see what I mean, the possibilities are endless.
Cheers – Steve
Ingredients
- 1/2 fennel bulb, cored and diced
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
- 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 4 cups, chard, spinach or kale, stemmed and chopped
- 1 cup peas
- 3 sun dried (or oven roasted) tomatoes, minced
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 8 tablespoons flour
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)
- 1 cup plain greek yogurt
- 3 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon finely mined tarragon
- 2 teaspoon finely minced thyme
- 5-6 cups diced, cooked chicken
- 6 pre-made (or scratch made) buttermilk biscuits
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400℉. Toss the fennel, carrots and sweet potato in a bowl with a little EVOO and some salt and pepper. Pour out onto a rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven until nicely caramelized and tender, about 25-35 minutes. Stir once about halfway through cooking. Remove from the oven and reserve.
- Put a large pot of salted water on and bring to a boil. Set up a large bowl full of ice water. Add the chard or kale and blanch for 2-3 minutes. Remove the greens from the pot and plunge them into the ice bath. Let sit until completely cooled, then remove with your hands, squeeze out any residual water and reserve.
- Rinse out the blanching pot then put it back over a medium flame. Add the butter, and when it has melted add in the flour and whisk continuously until it has browned slightly. Add the chicken stock and wine and cook, whisking occasionally until it has thickened to a sauce consistency.
- Whisk in the yogurt and dijon, then add the roasted vegetables, the chicken, peas, minced tomato, chard, and the herbs. Cook until heated through, then lower the heat and add the cream (if using). Check for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Pull from the heat and cover to keep warm.
- Split each biscuit, coat the cut surface with butter, then toast (butter side down) in a skillet set over medium-low heat until nicely browned. Remove each biscuit to a plate, cover the bottom of each biscuit with a helping of the chicken mixture, top with the other half of the biscuit and serve.