Pie Number 22 - Lemonchick's Chicken & Vegetable Pie

 The Year of Pie

Pie Number 22 - Lemonchick's Chicken & Vegetable Pie

    This is my creation! 100% mine! I loved it. I really loved the seasonings I chose. The only two things I would do differently, is to bake at 375 degrees, not 350 degrees and I would make a gravy with 1 cup water, not 2 cups of water (it made too much gravy). I baked the pie for 35 minutes at 350, but ended up adding at least 15 more minutes. The crust never did get golden, but it was still a good crust.  If I'd baked it at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes, I think the crust would have turned out more like how I wanted it to (golden). The first piece out of the pie pan did not come out very, well, but that was because it was still too hot. The second piece I had (the day after) came out just fine. I thought this creation of mine was really good and I hope you like it. 

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast diced

1 medium/large potato, peeled and diced

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 12oz bag frozen mixed vegetables, use the "steam in a bag" kind

1 cup water

1-2 tsp chicken bouillon (I used a low sodium variety)

3/4 tsp onion powder

3/4 tsp garlic powder, 

3/4 parsley flakes, 

3/4 tsp celery salt

3/4 tsp spicy chili seasoning 

3/4 tsp ground sage 

1/2 tsp salt, plus a sprinkle

1/2 tsp pepper, plus a sprinkle

canola oil

cornstarch

two-crust pie crust (unbaked)

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle a bit of canola oil in a large heated skillet. In a saucepan, boil diced potato in water until softened, but not mushy. Drain cooked potatoes and set aside. Season diced chicken with a sprinkle of salt, sprinkle of pepper and 1/4 tsp of each of the rest of the seasonings and add to the skillet. Cook completely and remove from skillet. Add chopped onion to the same skillet and cook until translucent. Return chicken to skillet and turn burner to low. In a saucepan, boil 1 cup water and 1-2 tsp chicken bouillon. Use a little bit of water mixed with cornstarch, to thicken the bouillon into a gravy. If it is not thick enough, add a little more water/cornstarch mixture. 

Combine the gravy, potatoes, onion, chicken and vegetables. Pour into unbaked pastry shell, add top crust and crimp edges to seal crusts together. Cut slits into top crust and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is golden. Remove pie from oven and let cool. Serve pie with a sprinkle of parsley flakes if desired and serve with a garden salad. 

Serves 8

Lemonchick's Chicken & Vegetable Pie
(cooked by not golden)

The first piece of pie that I took out wayyyy too early.

The second piece of pie that came out wayyyy better. 

Savory Onion Tart

 Savory Onion Tart

    Last week I invited my friend to lunch on Sunday, at my house. I provided this onion tart, garden salad with the Lime French Dressing (Week 44 of Fifty Two In Twenty Two) and hot croissants. I believe this was the first time I'd made a tart. It was easy to make and turned out great, even though I used the whole small bottle of Italian dressing. The recipe calls for two large onions, thinly sliced and I didn't think the onions I'd bought were huge, but I ended up with way too much onion. That was a blessing in disguise, because I just at the extra onion in other meals. This onion tart recipe is in Wish-Bone Dressing's May 17, 1988 "Favorite Recipes: Wish-Bone Salads Plus Much More" recipe booklet. I really liked this recipe and got compliments from my friend and others I gave samples to. I will definitely make this again. Notes in Italics.

Ingredients:

Pastry for 9-inch single-crust pie: (See below picture)

1/4 cup Wish-Bone Italian dressing

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

2 large onions, thinly sliced

1 cup shredded Fontina or Gruyere cheese (about 4 oz) (I used Gruyere)

2 eggs

1/2 whipping or heavy cream

2 teaspoons fresh sage leaves, finely chopped (I used 1 teaspoon)

1 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves (I used 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, because I didn't have just marjoram)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.  Roll out your crust into a 10-inch circle and press into a 9-inch tart pan. Crimp edges. Pierce the bottom and sides of the crust and bake for 8 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove and cool completely. While your crust is baking, heat Italian dressing with butter and onions over medium heat. Stir occasionally for about 15 minutes until the onions are tender. Sprinkle your shredded cheese over the bottom of your tart shell, followed by the onion mixture. In a small bowl, beat eggs, cream and seasonings. Pour the egg mixture over the mixture in your tart shell. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden. I garnished my tart with fresh basil leaves. Cut into wedges and serve with a nice salad and rolls. Makes 8 servings. 

Savory Onion Tart

Savory Onion Tart and Garden Salad with Lime French Dressing

                                        

            

White Bean & Roasted Garlic Dip

 White Bean & Roasted Garlic Dip

 I've adapted this recipe from "dip it!" by Rick Rogers. Printed in 2002. This dip is pretty much like hummus.  I really liked it. It is good on crackers, pita chips and could be used as a dip for veggies or even as a sandwich spread on pita bread. 

Ingredients:

2 cans {15 1/2 to 19 oz) cannellini beans (white kidney beans)

1 tablespoon minced garlic (the original recipe calls for a large head of garlic roasted)

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (the original recipe calls for fresh herbs like, sage, thyme, rosemary, a combination of the three, or Italian seasoning)

2 tablespoons lemon juice (I used fresh squeezed, which I recommend, but in a pinch, you can use botttled)

1/8 teaspoon or to taste crushed red chili pepper flakes (I think I used 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon)

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil as needed (I didn't have olive oil, so I used a little bit of canola oil)

salt to taste (I didn't add salt to mine)

Directions:

    Open your cans of beans and rinse well, retaining the juice from the cans. You're retaining the juice, in the event that your dip is a little too thick.  The dip may thicken if you refrigerate the dip overnight or you may just want a little bit thinner dip. Me? I refrigerated overnight and I wanted to have a little thinner dip anyhow, so I mixed in some of the reserved liquid the next day. 

    I roasted my minced garlic until soft, on a pan which I'd sprayed with a little non-stick cooking spray. I don't know how long that took exactly. I just know how soft I wanted the garlic.  Either way, if you use minced garlic or if you are using the whole garlic head (you're going to squeeze the garlic from the skin), add the garlic to your food processor with the beans, herbs or seasoning, lemon juice and the chili pepper flakes. Process your ingredients until smooth, adding enough of the oil to make it into the consistency you want.  

    Serve in a little bowl or on a chip and dip tray with crackers, pita chips or veggies.  You could sprinkle a little extra seasoning on top before putting your bowl/tray out, to make it pretty or just if you want to when serving just on crackers.

A plate of crackers with dip and as you can see my canine "helpers" were waiting to see if they were needed for a taste test. 

Close-up shot of one of the crackers. 

Porcupine Balls

 Porcupine Balls

        So, I finally made something from the cookbook which got me to start this blog. I made  Porcupine Balls.  I think I'd heard of these before, but hadn't ever considered making them.  This recipe calls only five ingredients: 1 1/2 lbs sausage, 1/2 cup uncooked rice, 1/2 cup milk, onion and sage. Including tomato sauce to pour over top, there's six and there is a note to 'flour' them, so if you want to do that, it's seven ingredients.  I somehow missed that part and didn't flour mine and they turned out fine.  

    The directions are to mix in the order they are listed, make small balls, flour and pour the sauce over them.  Bake slowly for 2 hours.  The recipe doesn't give a pan size or an oven temperature, which I've found in old, cookbooks like this one, there isn't always a pan size and directions are sometimes really unclear. But, I decades ago (like this cookbook is approximately 80 years old), so many more women regularly cooked every single meal, twenty-four/seven and they probably just knew what to do.  

    I used regular sausage that comes in the little tubes, white rice, 1/2 of a medium onion (diced) and I didn't have sage, so I used Italian seasoning mix (2 teaspoons in the mixture and sprinkled some on top). I didn't flour the balls and I used a tiny can of tomato paste, which I thinned out with water to about 2 cups and added a small can of tomato sauce. 

   A small ice cream scoop was used to make the balls and I really liked the size they ended up being. I didn't use any cooking spray on the pan, but I guess you could. It turned out fine without it.  I had the common sense to use the largest baking dish I had (11"x14", I believe) and I still had to squeeze them in there.   After I'd placed all of the balls in the baking dish, I poured the tomato sauce I mixed up over top and placed the pan in a pre-heated oven at 325 degrees.  I ended up taking them out about 12 minutes early.  They were perfect and my house smelled really good! 

    What would I do different? I would try using minute/quick rice or maybe even pre-cooked rice and I would play around with using a hotter oven and cooking for a shorter length of time. I think you could absolutely make these ahead of time and store them without the sauce, refrigerated or even freeze them. Obviously if you freeze them, you'd need to ensure you thawed them out before baking with the sauce.  There's definitely some possibilities for changing things up a bit.  Like, my using the Italian seasoning, not just sage, was an excellent decision.  And, I sprinkled a little bit of parmesan on top when I was ready to eat. I made brown rice to go with mine, but you could easily to some kind of pasta or mashed potatoes. I think you could also make some delicious hot subs with these.  Just add some extra sauce and cheese. 

    I ended up with 20 sausage balls. For me I had 4 in a serving with a side of brown rice. You could have 4 - 5 servings, depending on whether or not you want 4 pieces of 5 pieces. 

    Would I make this again? Oh my gosh, 100%, yes!!!! It tasted really good and wasn't greasy at all, which I'd kind of been expecting.  

    A huge "thank you" to Mrs. Ray Sheeley, who submitted this recipe back in the early 1940s.