Chicken (or Turkey) Pot Pie and Happy Anniversary!

Happy anniversary to me! Today marks the one year anniversary of Bull City Food. A lot has happened in one year... all sorts of recipes, the changing of seasons, and oh yea, that whole wedding thing. :) It's been a great year for Bull City Food, which is hopefully only the first of many years of cooking and writing. My first recipe was made from leftovers of a Thanksgiving feast, so it's only fitting that I do another leftover special for this anniversary edition.

This year it's all about pot pie. And since I've finally accepted my gluten intolerance, it must be a gluten free version. Although, I promise no one would know the difference if they tried this pot pie; it's that good. However, if you would prefer to make a regular pot pie, just use any biscuit or dumpling recipe you like. (I'm sure the recipe on the Bisquick box would work just fine.) Because most of us tend to have lots of turkey left over after Thanksgiving, this is a perfect way to use up leftovers. But it also works well with chicken, so feel free to use up any leftover chicken you have from baked chicken or whole roasted chicken any time of the year.

Chicken (or Turkey) Pot Pie Filling

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 2.5-3 cups chicken stock
• 1 pound cooked chicken or turkey, skinned and cubed (about 3 cups)
• 3/4 cup green peas
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2-3 tbsp water
• Salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
Saute onion, carrots and celery until onion is soft and translucent, about 8-10 minutes.
Add garlic and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. Saute another two minutes.
Pour in chicken stock and add cooked chicken or turkey, thyme and peas (it's ok if they're frozen).
Simmer until liquid is reduced, about 10 minutes.
In a small bowl or cup, mix cornstarch and water until cornstarch is dissolved. Pour into soup mixture and bring to a boil. Allow the soup to boil for a few minutes to thicken.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Pour soup into a greased 9 x 13 pan.
Top soup with tablespoons of biscuit dough and cook in a preheated 400˚F oven for 25-30 minutes until filling is bubbling and biscuits are browned.

Gluten Free Crust:

• 1 3/4 cups gluten free all-purpose baking flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
• 1 1/2 tsp xantham gum
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 cup butter (room temp)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 large egg (beaten)
• 1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Combine dry ingredients, flour through thyme, in a large bowl.
Add butter, milk, egg and vinegar and mix together thoroughly.

For a printable recipe click here
Recipe adapted from Bob's Red Mill website

Happy Thanksgiving and How To Make Homemade Stock

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This is one of my favorite holidays. What's better than a day devoted entirely to cooking and eating delicious food with your friends and family? My mom and I spent most of yesterday cooking and preparing for the big feast today. As with any big dinner party, we like to get most of the work done ahead of time so we can actually enjoy the company of our guests. We will start the day with a Turkey Trot in my parents' neighborhood followed by an afternoon of hanging out, watching sports and getting the meal together. We usually eat around 5pm - late enough to be nice and hungry but not so late that we go into an immediate food coma afterward.

Since I'm getting ready to head over to my parents' house, I'll make this quick. I just wanted to share some tips on making homemade stock so that no one makes the tragic mistake of throwing away all of those delicious bones leftover after the turkey has been devoured. So after everyone has eaten - and before the calming effects of tryptophan have taken over your body - take all of the meat off of the bones and keep it to be used later for turkey soup or pot pie (more on that to come). Then store the bones separately to be used tomorrow morning for homemade stock. A clean trash bag works really well for this if you don't have any giant, turkey-sized Tupperware on hand. After you have those nice turkey bones all ready to go, all you need is a few simple ingredients to make a delicious homemade stock. Use it all for leftover turkey soup or freeze it for later use this winter.

Homemade Stock

• Bones of a turkey or chicken, meat, skin and fat removed
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 3-4 celery stocks, chopped, leaves removed
• 3-4 carrots, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 8-10 parsley stems, leaves removed (save the leaves for another use)
• 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• Water

In a large stock pot, combine bones, vegetables and herbs.
Pour in enough cold water to fully cover everything.
Bring stock to a boil and then reduce heat to low.
Simmer slowly for 4-5 hours, skimming the fat and foam off of the top every once in awhile.
The stock should be a golden color and taste like turkey/chicken.
Strain the liquid out and let it cool before storing in airtight containers in the refrigerator or freezer. This stock won't be salted like most store-bought stocks, so adjust future recipes accordingly.

For a printable recipe click here

A Weekend Getaway in Charleston

This past weekend Gavin and I went to Charleston to celebrate my birthday. Not only was it a great chance to get away just the two of us before the craziness of the holidays but it was an absolutely fantastic culinary experience. I did a lot of research before we left to pick the restaurants we would go to so that we got the most out of our time there. You could easily spend an entire month in Charleston and eat at a different amazing restaurant every night. Unfortunately, we only had two nights so I wanted to choose wisely. I asked the masses on Twitter, read reviews on Urban Spoon, and was fortunate enough to have Bon Appetit's Charleston review from the November issue. The two restaurants I decided on were Charleston Grill and McCrady's. Although I can't compare them to all of the other great restaurants in Charleston, these two definitely did not disappoint.

Tuna Sashimi at Charleston Grill

Our dinner at Charleston Grill started late, around 9pm or so, when we arrived after driving from Durham. We got a great table near the piano where Jazz musicians entertained throughout our meal. Dinner started off with a complimentary appetizer of sashimi tuna with the most perfectly cut assortment of beets, cucumbers and olives. (It was either complimentary because it was my birthday or because the sommelier really liked us; either way we were quite pleased.) Each flavor complimented the others to create an amazing dish but I'm serious when I say that they were cut perfectly. Having been graded on my knife skills, I really appreciate some good knife work. Gavin then enjoyed a Thai beef salad and found the first white wine he actually really loved - a dry German Riesling. I had a salad that combined the spicy, somewhat bitter tastes of arugula, radicchio and frisee with sweet marinated grapes, pomegranate seeds and Marcona almonds. I was almost disappointed I had gone with something as basic as a salad but this dish was anything but basic. I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderfully everything went together.

Butter Poached Maine Lobster at Charleston Grill

For our entrees, Gavin enjoyed a butter poached lobster and I had a delicious scallop dish with a black bean sauce. The kitchen staff was even kind enough to adjust the sauce a bit to make sure that it was gluten free. And not only that, but the waitress brought out some fresh-from-the-oven gluten free bread to start the meal as soon as I told her I was allergic. The gluten free bread was delicious and Gavin decided to eat most of that instead of the usual bread offering. I was amazed overall at how gluten-free friendly I found Charleston. Definitely a bonus for anyone suffering from a gluten allergy.

Beef Tenderloin at McCrady's

After a full day of shopping around King St. and admiring the beautiful Louis Vuitton bags that we would never actually purchase, we got all dressed up and took a bike taxi over to McCrady's. Bike taxis are these great little carts pulled by guys riding bikes. We felt like we did a good deed to the environment and enjoyed a nice chat with our bike "driver" (peddler? not sure what you'd call him). McCrady's has a ton of history - it's told that George Washington himself dined there - and boasts a James Beard award winning chef (Chef Sean Brock, James Beard 2010 Best Chef Southeast). The atmosphere was definitely more serene than Charleston Grill without the lively Jazz band but we did sit near a very cozy fireplace. Both of our meals were absolutely delicious but they had a hard time living up to our first incredible experience dining in Charleston.

Cocktails at The Gin Joint

Because we ate on the earlier side on Saturday, we decided to hold off on extra drinks at the restaurant and instead, go to a few bars in the area. We enjoyed our first cocktail on a rooftop bar with a perfect view of a beautiful full moon. The next stop was The Gin Joint, a recommendation from one of Gavin's coworkers. What a great suggestion! This tiny little bar serves only authentic pre-prohibition drinks in the appropriate vessels. Staying true to this time period means absolutely no vodka on the menu, since vodka wasn't popular until prohibition. The drink menu however, is extensive, including several wines by the glass and a whole variety of cocktails made from all types of whiskey, gin, and tequila.

Julep No 1: A mint julep in the classic pewter glass (The Gin Joint)

The highlight of our time at The Gin Joint, however, was meeting and chatting with the couple at the table next to ours. We just so happened to sit next to Tamara Reynolds of the blog The Sunday Night Dinner and author of the cookbook Forking Fantastic: Put the Party Back in Dinner Party. A cook and food blogger living in New York, Tamara is also a part of Unique Eats, a show on the Cooking Channel featuring, well, unique things to eat in different parts of the country. She was at The Gin Joint to taste the different items that will be featured on an upcoming episode about Charleston. How cool is that! And not only is Tamara a food blogger/cookbook author/TV personality, but she's really nice and incredibly fun to chat with. From reading her blog, you'll find that she would probably be a hell of a lot of fun to cook with too!

All in all, Charleston makes for an awesome getaway - whether you're celebrating something or not. It's an easy 4 1/2 hour drive from Durham and full of great things to do for a weekend. In addition to our amazing eating experiences, we also checked out the farmers' market on Saturday and took a harbor tour on Sunday. We will definitely be heading back, hopefully sometime soon, to check out some of the places we didn't get a chance to visit.

*My apologies for the dark photos. Low light is great for ambiance in a restaurant, not so good for taking pictures.

Butternut Squash, Arugula and Goat Cheese Quinoa

Last week I had the most amazing salad at Watt's Grocery. It was followed by a great entree and Billy Elliot at DPAC (Durham Performing Arts Center), all worthy of note and praise and all that. But instead, I want to focus on that absolutely delicious salad. Roasted butternut squash, spiced pecans and goat cheese all tossed with mixed greens and balsamic vinaigrette. Sweet and spicy and tangy all at once, it was a perfect mix of fall flavors. Both my mom and I loved this salad so I'm pretty sure it will be making an appearance at our Thanksgiving table as a new addition this year. It just goes to show how simple but great ingredients can combine to make something wonderful.

Because I couldn't get this delicious salad out of my head, I decided to recreate some of its flavors but in a new way for a meal. Rather than mixing the ingredients on top of salad greens, I decided to use quinoa (clearly one of my favorite grains) as the base and then toss in arugula to wilt with the heat of the cooked quinoa and squash. The wilted arugula acts as the "salad" part of the meal and adds a slightly peppery taste to the sweet butternut squash and the tangy goat cheese. The balsamic vinegar pulls everything together like a salad dressing would. I didn't happen to have any nuts on hand, but some toasted walnuts or pecans would be great on top. Serve as a meal or alongside of a piece of chicken or fish for a healthy, easy dinner.

Butternut Squash, Arugula and Goat Cheese Quinoa (serves 2 for dinner or 4 sides)

• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (about 3 cups chopped)
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water or chicken stock
• 4-5 cups arugula (about 4 big handfuls)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 oz goat cheese
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted (optional for garnish)

Preheat oven to 450˚F.
Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray.
Toss butternut squash with about 1 tbsp olive oil (possibly less, just enough to coat) and season with salt and pepper. Spread in one layer on cookie sheet.
Roast butternut squash for 20-25 minutes, until fork tender.
While squash is roasting, combine quinoa and water or stock in a saucepan. If using water, season with 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until liquid is absorbed.
In a large bowl, combine cooked quinoa, butternut squash, arugula, 1 tbsp olive oil, balsamic vinegar and crumbled goat cheese. Season with a pinch more salt and pepper. Toss well to mix everything and wilt arugula.
Serve immediately, garnished with toasted nuts, if desired.

For a printable recipe click here



Butternut Squash, Arugula and Goat Cheese Quinoa

Black Bean Chili with Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard

Some days you just don't have the time or energy to, say, roast a whole chicken. I definitely have lots of nights where I'm tired or simply not in the mood to cook an elaborate dinner. For this type of night, it's best to have some go to meals that you know will be satisfying and delicious, but easy to make at the same time. For me, nothing beats soups, stews and chili when I want big results with little effort. The key with these types of meals is to change them up a bit each time. If you always make the same type of soup or same beef and bean chili, they'll start to lose some of their comfort value and just become boring instead. I've made tons of different kinds of chili - some with meat, some without - but all have that thick, hot taste of satisfaction in every bite.

This chili recipe was inspired by one I saw on Epicurious and is full of healthy beans and vegetables and perfectly fits the bill for a satisfying chili dish. It even includes one of my favorite winter squashes: the butternut squash. It adds a great layer of sweetness next to the meatiness of the black beans and the warmth of the chili powder. And best of all, this chili has everything you need for a meal in one pot. You could serve it with some rice or bread if you like, or dish it up as is in big steamy bowl fulls.

Black Bean Chili with Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (about 2 cups total)
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 x 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2.5 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 x 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 small bunch Swiss chard, stems removed and leaves chopped
• Salt and pepper
• Grated cheddar cheese, chopped onion, for garnish (if desired)

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.
Saute onions until tender, about 5-8 minutes.
Add garlic, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook for another minute.
Stir in butternut squash, chili powder and cumin. Saute for a few minutes.
Add beans, stock and tomatoes (with juices); bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until squash is tender, 15-20 minutes.
Add in Swish chard in batches. It might seem like way too many greens for the amount of chili but it will wilt down. Stir in each batch until wilted and tender, about 5 minutes total.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve chili with a scoop of rice or toasted bread and top with cheddar cheese or chopped onion, if desired.

For a printable recipe click here

Whole Roast Chicken: Delicious any time of year

Yes, I do realize that it's not quite Thanksgiving yet. I know that it is right around the corner and I'm so excited to get together with family and friends and celebrate with delicious food. Doesn't get much better than that in my opinion. But no, I wasn't trying to make Thanksgiving come any faster. I already feel like fall is flying by way too fast, so I'm not trying to rush anything. I just got a craving for juicy, delicious roast chicken. By cooking the whole bird, you end up with a much juicier, more flavorful piece of chicken than when you cook the breast by itself. Sure it takes a little longer, but it's definitely worth it every once in awhile for a special treat. And you don't need to wait till Thanksgiving.

 Chickens are usually much smaller than turkeys so they don't take all day to cook like some of the birds we've gotten for past holidays. You can even go really mini with a Cornish game hen that can be prepared in the same way, in a lot less time, and are equally delicious. By roasting a whole chicken - the one I used was about 6.5 pounds - you not only get a delicious dinner one night, but you can use the bones to make stock and the leftover chicken for soup or pot pie. Homemade stock is really easy (I promise!) and so much better than anything you could buy in the store. I'll be sharing my stock making tips soon. I haven't decided yet whether I want to make chicken soup or pot pie, but I'll share that as well.

Anyway, getting back to that chicken. The most important ingredient to achieving a moist and juicy chicken is a meat thermometer. Do not rely on the little pop-up thing that some chickens (or turkeys) come with. By the time those things usually pop up, your bird will be dry dry dry. So buy a meat thermometer; they aren't expensive and are great for chicken, pork, steak, pretty much any meat you can cook.

Now that you have a meat thermometer, the rest is easy. Use the thermometer to check the chicken in between the thigh and breast, without touching the bone. It should read about 165˚ to 170˚F to be fully cooked. I know that most packages say 180˚, but again, this will be too dry. It keeps cooking a bit after you take it out of the oven so you want to pull it out before it gets to highest temperature before sawdust. At 165˚ it's safe to eat but still actually tastes good. The herbs stuffed inside also help, as does a good coating of salt and pepper. Serve the chicken with some gravy if you like, but it also tastes great on its own.

Whole Roast Chicken

• 1/2 lemon, cut into quarters
• 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
• 4 thyme sprigs
• 2 rosemary stems
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 piece of butcher's twine, 3-4 feet long
• 1 whole chicken (about 6 pounds)

Preheat oven to 425˚F. 
Gather all of the ingredients before dealing with the chicken so that you don't contaminate your containers and refrigerator. Combine salt and pepper in a small bowl.
Remove anything from the cavity of the chicken (sometimes the giblets will be in a bag) and rinse the chicken inside and out. Pat dry with a paper towel.
Stuff the cavity with lemon wedges, garlic, thyme and rosemary. Sprinkle a pinch of the salt and pepper mixture inside as well.
Loosen the skin away from the breast near the cavity and rub salt and pepper on the flesh, underneath the skin.
Use the remaining salt and pepper to rub the entire bird.
Truss the chicken using the butcher's twine. For a how-to video, click here. This keeps the bird neatly together so that everything cooks evenly. (You can still cook a tasty chicken without trussing if you want to skip this step.)
Place the chicken in a large pan and into the oven. Cook for about 15-20 minutes to let the skin brown.
Turn the oven temperature down to 375˚F and cook until the thermometer reads about 165˚ and the juices run clear. This will be about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1.5 hours for a 6 pound bird.
Remove the chicken and allow it to rest for about 10 minutes before cutting.
Cut the string and remove the herbs from the cavity. These are a great addition to gravy if you plan to make gravy too.
To cut the chicken, start with the legs and cut the skin connecting the leg and thigh to the breast. Gently pull the leg and thigh away from breast until the thigh bone snaps out of joint. Then cut away the meat to separate the thigh from the rest of the bird.
For the breasts, find the keel bone running along the center of the bird. Cut the breast away just next to the keel bone and down along the ribs.
For a more in-depth view of carving a bird, check out Alton Brown's video here.
Enjoy your juicy chicken and be sure to save the rest of the meat and all of the bones.

For a printable recipe click here

White Bean, Arugula and Olive Pasta

Monday was the last (I hope!) day of my full blown cold. It has now subsided to a mild case of the sniffles and will hopefully go away altogether soon. I sort of knew on Monday that I either needed to really take it easy and get better or I risked staying sick for much longer. So instead of my usual first day of the week business, I stayed home and did nothing. I didn't leave my apartment once - no errands, no gym, nothing. I absolutely needed this day to rest and recover as now I'm feeling much better. But despite my desire and need to stay on the couch all day, dinner time came around and we still needed to eat. Gavin was nice enough to offer to get take out but I really wasn't in the mood for a huge dinner of Thai food. So I decided to search through my fridge and pantry to see what I could come up with.

The resulting pasta dish used up what I had in the kitchen and actually tasted really good. Although this might not be a typical pasta dish, it combines ingredients that work great together in other dishes and uses flavors that compliment each other well. The dish was sweet, salty and peppery all at the same time. The olives mellow out when cooked and add a saltiness without overwhelming the dish. And the balsamic vinegar lends a sweetness that acts as a great counterpoint. If you don't like olives, as I know a lot of people who don't, you could easily leave them out and just go with the white beans and arugula. The beans add a hearty dose of fiber and protein while the wilted arugula gives a great peppery taste and acts as a salad all in the same dish. The only thing that really needs any cooking time is the shallot so the whole sauce is done in less time than it takes for a pot of water to boil and cook the pasta. Pasta dishes are a great way to use up leftovers so anytime you're looking for a quick meal, think about ingredients that go together in other dishes - like salads or dips - and mix them together with any type of pasta. Top with some Parmesan cheese and you're good to go, even if you couldn't make it off the couch to get to the grocery store.

White Bean, Arugula and Olive Pasta (serves 2)

• 8 oz pasta, any variety
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large shallot or small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, divided
• 7-8 assorted olives, pitted and chopped
• 1 15 oz can white beans, rinsed and drained
• Pinch crushed red pepper flakes, optional
• 3-4 cups loosely packed arugula
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and reserve 1 cup of cooking water.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.
Saute onions, seasoned with a pinch of salt and pepper, until tender, about 5-8 minutes.
Add minced garlic and 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar. Cook for another minute or two.
Stir in olives, white beans and red pepper flakes; cook till warmed through.
Turn heat off and stir in arugula, remaining tablespoon vinegar and 1/4 cup pasta cooking liquid, to wilt arugula.
In a large bowl, toss cooked pasta with sauce. Season with salt and pepper, if needed, and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Add a bit more cooking liquid if too dry.
Serve pasta garnished with more Parmesan if desired.

For a printable recipe click here