A thick chicken and vegetable stew cooked with some kind of dough is my idea of a perfect meal. I think Mark Bittman's cobbler crusted version is quite inspired--I'll take a biscuit over pie dough any day. No more introduction necessary. See the note at the bottom for changes to make this vegetarian.
Chicken Pot Cobbler
(adapted from Mark Bittman on "The Minimalist")
serves 6
for the chicken stew
2-3 cups roughly chopped, cooked chicken (light and dark meat)
1 large onion, chopped
3 ribs of celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
a bunch of fresh or a teaspoon of dried herbs, thyme, sage, rosemary all work
salt and pepper
chicken stock
1 tablespoon cornstarch
cup of frozen peas
for the biscuit topping
1 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small bits
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large pot combine the chicken, onion, celery, carrot, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Add chicken stock to cover. Turn heat to medium and simmer while you but together the biscuit.
3. You'll remember these instructions from my peach cobbler recipe: In a food processor (or a bowl if you insist on doing this by hand), give the flour, salt, baking soda and powder, and sugar a couple of buzzes. Add the butter and egg and process just until lightly lumpy. Add the buttermilk and process until just combined.
4. Remove whole fresh herbs from chicken mixture and add the frozen peas. Spoon a bit of the broth into a bowl and whisk in the cornstarch. This is a slurry, it keeps you from making a lumpy gravy if you were to add the cornstarch straight into the pot.
5. Stir the slurry into the simmering chicken mixture. Let it simmer until it starts thickening a bit, a couple minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand a minute.
6. Pour the chicken stew into a baking dish and spread the biscuit dough as evenly as possible to cover the stew--don't drive yourself crazy with this.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top browns to your liking.
If you prefer to make this vegetarian or your desire for pot pie and roast chicken leftovers don't converge, substitute the chicken with some diced potatoes and mushrooms and the chicken stock with vegetable stock. Thanks to Sarah for the inspiration.
