Comfort food pr0n

[rikibeth]

If I told you how much we are charging this customer for the simplest of foods, you would either laugh or have a heart attack.

Seriously. It's the best possible stuff for a party in this wind chill factor minus zero weather: meat lasagna, mac and cheese, chicken pot pie with a biscuit crust, gralic bread, and our house salad, the one with the dried cranberries, goat cheese, and candied walnuts.

I did a lot of prep for it yesterday, or caused the prep to be done -- potatoes and carrots diced for the potpie, made the marinara sauce ("Taste this, Boss, and tell me if it needs anything, my nose is all stuffed and I can't tell." "It's perfect!" "Good."), browned the ground beef with onions and garlic, and made the garlic butter. Fed a little of the garlic butter to the boss, on a bread heel, and improved her mood for the whole day, I think. Also convinced the boss that I did not NEED a recipe for potpie, as it was something I used to make at home on a regular basis. Further won the argument about biscuit crust vs. pie crust. "Which would you rather eat -- the top crust of a pie, or a scone? Biscuits are practically scones, see? Biscuit it is."

Today was nice and simple -- I had lunch out by 11:15, 8 cranberry apple pies and 2 trays of brownies done by 1:15, and then I started to work on the catering order, cooking off the potatoes and carrots, getting water going for the macaroni and the lasagna noodles, wilting spinach with garlic to put in the ricotta filling... wound up making a Parmesan bechamel for the lasagna because I discovered at the last possible moment that the boss had not gotten in the mozzarella I'd asked for, and then had a brief digression about her confusing method of lasagna layering vs. my sane, rational one.

The juices from the chicken pieces that got cooked off today (we are starting to get in thighs as well as breasts now, because not only are they cheaper, they will make more flavorful soup -- this was MY idea, and made her happy) became the broth for making the thyme-flavored veloute sauce that's being the Potpie Gravy. I gave a spoonful of the finished veloute to Kevin, and he was in transports.

Tomorrow all I really have to do is to make up the buttermilk biscuit dough and drop it onto the potpies and cook them off. The boss is going to assemble the house salad -- slicing onions, big deal.

And now it's time for my OWN dinner.

Comments

[atalantapendrag.livejournal.com]

...my potato croquettes from Schwans seem even less enticing now.

[lessthanpie]

Better than my leftover cold pizza. :)

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

It's not as if potpie is so very difficult. In fact, that's a really easy one to do in a one-person quantity.

The trick is, you have to keep some basic staple foods ON HAND in order for it to be easy. Nothing exotic: onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, frozen peas. Some chicken broth, canned or in those marvelous juice-box packages. Butter (or oil if you must). Flour. And don't be out of milk. If you have those, and a boneless chicken breast or thigh, and can pick up a pack of refrigerated biscuits, you are good to go.

Here's potpie-for-one without eating the nasty frozen kind: Find a bowl that can go in both the oven and the microwave. Peel and dice one smallish potato and one carrot. Put them in the bowl with a spoonful of water and cover it; microwave 5 minutes so they soften. While they're cooking, cook your boneless chicken part in a skillet. Hack that up too, and add it to the bowl. Add in some frozen peas. Chop up a little bit of onion and celery, and melt two tablespoons of butter; soften the onion and celery in the butter, sprinkle in a pinch of salt and pepper and a bit of thyme (dried is OK, and you can skip it if you have no spice rack, but really, most people have this...), then stir in two tablespoons of flour. Stir it around for a few minutes over medium heat so the flour doesn't taste raw and nasty. Then, keep stirring, and pour in half a cup of milk and half a cup of chicken broth. Let it come to a boil, turn the heat down, and simmer it another couple of minutes until it's thickened some. Taste it and see if you want more salt or pepper, and add it if you do. Pour this over the stuff in the bowl. Stick a couple of biscuits-from-the-can over the top, and put it in the oven, following the biscuit directions to get them baked. Voila, potpie -- and how long does it take to cut up a few vegetables? It's even kind of soothing.

The biscuits-in-a-can will keep pretty well for a day in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap, even after you opened them, so you could eat them for breakfast the next day, if you resist their lure as a midnight snack.

Mmm. biscuits.

Yes, I make my own biscuits... but Pillsbury Grands aren't half bad.

[webbapettigrew.livejournal.com]

Someday when I'm rich, I'm going to hire you to make me a nice breakfast. I swear it. I want homemade waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and I want a fruit salad thingee and then I want some Texas toast. All at once.

Yep.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I haven't got a waffle iron; do you?

Sliced fresh strawberries, or a syrupy compote? Oooh, I know -- fresh, macerated in sugar and Cognac.

Remind me that I want to split open a vanilla bean and soak it overnight in the cream before I whip it. Then just barely sweeten the whipped cream. (Note to self: remember superfine sugar.)

What do you like best in your fruit salad? What must I absolutely leave out?

And please explain more about this Texas toast.

[webbapettigrew.livejournal.com]

Oh God yum. It's like a food orgasm reading that. I like lots of stuff in my fruit salad, except no mangos or pears.

Texas toast is this really thick bread, buttery-flavored and crispy when you bite into it. It's the height of good.

[zdashamber.livejournal.com]

I'm still at work; just had some leftover salad to tide me over for an hour more. I write, though, to reminisce about pie crust. Whenever we make it, we trim off the bits that hang over the edges of the pan and lay them on a cookie sheet, brush them with water so they're sticky, sprinkle them with sugar and cinnamon, bake them. Take them hot on a plate around the house to all and sundry. Not really haut cuisine, eh, but tasty!

[kcarp.livejournal.com]

You brush them with WATER? But...it's all about the butter!!!

(Seriously, unless you're vegan or really allergic to dairy, thou must try it with butter.)

K

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

If I told you how much we are charging this customer for the simplest of foods, you would either laugh or have a heart attack.

I would believe you. Croque Monsieurs? Grilled Cheese, frenc style? We used to charge (1990 prices)$3.50 at a cafe I worked at. At Whole Foods, they charge 4.99 for garlic smashed potatoes, and it flies out the door.

Chicken thigh pieces are more flavorful, indeed, and make a better chicken Provecal than chicken breasts. Chicken breasts I do like for chicken salad with homemade mayo.

Yummy to all of it!

[kalessin.livejournal.com]

"Wind Chill Factor Minus Zero" Boomtown Rats, on the "Fine Art of Surfacing" album. Recognized it in your post immediately, even though I haven't listened to that particular record in a few years... :-)

You might've grabbed my attention with the song reference, but you made me long for good food just now... Arisia is a great convention, but not so great for food when twenty-five inches of snow fall on the neighborhood. Most of the restaurants in and around the hotel were closed today...

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I was wondering if anyone was going to pick up on the song reference, since I was too lazy to Google the lyrics and make the title a link. Should have known you would.

Naturally, I have it on vinyl.

My boss actually didn't open the store on Sunday, can you believe it?

Hope Arisia was fun!