blog — molly yeh

chicken

tater tot chicken pot hotdish

in

spring planting started yesterday and all i can think about is how grateful i am for the world synchronized skating championship online webcast. hehe. oops? i know, i should be celebrating spring planting (i am! here, have a cake!) but, like, any other time, i probably would have been a little salty if eggboy had tout à coup called way past dinner time to say that it would be another many hours before pizza o'clock, and last night it was received with something more to the effect of, ok the entirety of team russia 2 is dressed like black swan, there are tiaras, they're about to swizzle, g'bye. 

is this what being a farm wife is???

oh right! that and planning dinners that last for a long while on the stove or in the oven for the unpredictable nature of "dinnertime during farming season." we learned how to do that last year though, during the great sugar beet harvest shakshuka slow-poach showdown. whatever that means. now it's just a matter of getting back into the swing of things and not making delicate time-sensitive food like soufflés or al dente noodles.

i know, i don't even make soufflés or al dente noodles during non-farming season. but you know what i mean.

so i figured it was high a time as any to put my first tater tot hotdish recipe out into the world!

omg tots omg tots.

i know, they're moment-ing in brooklyn right now. 

but let me tell you about 1980s upper midwest church cookbooks and tater tot hotdish: they are married. tater tot hotdish is quintessential comfort food for eggboy and eggdad and egggrandma. tater tot hotdish : eggdad :: mum's mac and cheese : me. it's a staple at potlucks and you're not a minnesotan until you can properly apply a layer of tater tots to a 9 X 13 casserole dish of creamed soup.

let's review our hotdish definition: a meat, a creamed soup, a vegetable, and a starch, dumped together and baked until hot. typically a tater tot hotdish is hamburger meat, cream of something (mushroom?) soup, and peas or green beans under a bed of store-bought tater tots. mine is inspired by chicken pot pie: chicken, béchamel, and vegetables. 

and thyme. and miniature. and yes, store-bought tater tots, for now. 

tater tot chicken pot hotdish

makes 4-5 servings

ingredients

2 tb unsalted butter (or olive oil)

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

optional: other chopped sturdy veggies! celery, potatoes, and broccoli would all be great

1/4 c all-purpose flour

2 c whole or 2% milk

enough chicken bouillon for 2 c liquid*

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh or breast, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1/2 c frozen peas

1/4 t dried thyme

optional: other herbs! rosemary and parsley are nice!

black pepper

frozen tater tots! about a pound of them.

 

*i like orrington farms brand, which requires 2 tsp mix per cup, but other brands, like better than bouillon i believe only require 1 tsp. best to check the instructions.  

clues

preheat oven to 400.

in a large skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter and add the onion, carrots, and any other veggies, stirring until soft, 7-10 minutes. stir in the flour so that it gets evenly distributed. add 1 cup of the milk, stirring until thickened, and then add the second cup, stirring until thickened.

add the bouillon, chicken, peas, thyme, any other herbs you’d like, and pepper, and simmer, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked. taste the mixture and adjust seasonings, if desired.

transfer the mixture to a 2-2 1/2 quart casserole dish or 4-5 mini cocottes--and then cover with tater tots. 

bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tots are golden brown.

let cool slightly and enjoy!

mini chicken pot pies

in ,

i would first eat the crust, inspecting all surfaces to make sure there weren't any mushrooms or peas. i would then filter through the innards, making sure not to ingest any mushrooms or peas. eventually i would give up and go searching for a handi-snack.

to say that i'm impressed with those second graders who made it through daniel is an understatement.

at heart i'm still the pickiest of all the eaters. so even now when i eat something as comforting as chicken pot pie, i consider it a triumph because you never know what could be hiding in that thick creamy goop. it could be a mushroom.

of course my version doesn't have mushrooms. when will i enjoy mushrooms???? and this version is v heavy on the crust, a perk of its miniature size. i've grown into tolerating peas, so those are there, along with the remaining usual suspects of a chicken pot pie, and nothing else. 

this is a no frills pot pie. a simple pie, a humble pie.

these little pies are cute, fun to make, and functional, especially for a small household like mine that can't eat an entire pie for supper. i just wrap the leftovers up individually and freeze them and wam bam, easy as... (wait for it) pie.

i made these in my new favorite pan, the lodge mini cake pan, feel free to use a muffin tin though!

mini chicken pot pies

makes 10-12

ingredients

2 tb unsalted butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/4 c all-purpose flour

2 c whole milk

enough chicken soup concentrate for 2 c liquid*

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1/2 c frozen peas

1/4 t dried thyme

black pepper

2 lb pie dough

*i like orrington farms brand, which requires 2 tsp mix per cup, but other brands, like better than bouillon i believe only require 1 tsp. best to check the instructions.  

clues

in a large skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter and add the onion, stirring until soft, 5-7 minutes. stir in the flour so that it gets evenly distributed. whisk together the milk and chicken soup concentrate and pour it into the skillet. whisk the mixture constantly until it begins to thicken.

add the carrots, chicken, peas, thyme, and pepper, and simmer, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked. taste the mixture and adjust seasonings, if desired.

at this point, i find it easiest to let the mixture cool and then form my pies, however you can definitely form your pies immediately if you'd like.

preheat oven to 400. lightly grease your molds. line them with pie dough so that there is some overhang on the edges (for my pan, i used a 5 1/2-inch circle). spoon in a heaping 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture, place a smaller (3-4-inch) circle on top, and then crimp the edges from the bottom circle over. poke a few holes in the top. bake until golden brown, 30-40 minutes.

let cool slightly and enjoy!

-yeh!

this post is part of becky's eat seasonal roundup! check out a bunch of other seasonal goodies here!

an apple picking party

in , , , ,

fall is here!!! fall is heeeeeere!!!! holy root vegetable, i am so excited. 

clearly i've already gotten into the spirit of things, but here's a scientific fact for you: fall isn't fall until you've picked an apple from a tree. (right??) like, you can eat all the pumpkin spice things you want, but you mustn't forget about the apples. 

in the past, my annual apple orchard trip has coincided with a trip home to illinois, but this year i figured there would probably be some hardcore apple orchards in the middle of all this rural business, so i conducted some research on the best places to go apple picking around grand forks. 20 minutes of failed googling later, eggboy came in from the fields, laughed really hard, and then directed me to the two fairly large apple trees in our backyard. apple picking parties are a thing here explained cathryn. 

oh.

...cool!!!!!

so rather than having our regular brunch club, the ladies and i became the most hipster versions of ourselves, took a picnic out to my backyard, sipped some wine, and picked a ton of apples. it was perfect. we talked weddings and miss america, we ate cheese and more cheese. we took moody photos of handfuls of apples. (good thing one of us had a fresh manicure.)

and then we retreated inside, away from the buttercream-loving bees, put on the sufjan, and stretched our definition of proper caramel apple coatings...

here was our menu:

for noshing // brown sugar challah, jam, baked teddybear camembert with raspberry preserves, and a bunch more cheese

for dessert #1 // sprinkle cake

for dessert #2 // caramel apples with coconut, toasted sesame seeds, sprinkles, sea salt, and smoked sea salt

for sipping // kendall-jackson avant chardonnay

for supper // chicken with apples + chardonnay 

i highly recommend an apple picking party, even if you don't have an apple tree. make friends with someone who does! or grow your own. or trespass. (don't trespass.)

-yeh!

thanks so much to kendall-jackson avant for sponsoring this post!!!! all opinions are my own!

panko and za'atar crusted chicken with balsamic date chutney

in , ,

did i ever tell you about the time i won free schnitzel for an entire month? 

back when i was an upper west side bicycle-riding college person (and also a "restaurant blogger") one of my twelve twitter accounts became the 5,000th follower of the schnitzel truck and the prize was free schnitzel for a month. it was one of the greatest most delicious most water retained months of my life. you can read all about it in vintage my name is yeh.

the glorified chicken nugget that is schnitzel always has and always will be one of my most favorite foods. in today's molly on the range, i confess that if ever a valentine gave me a heart-shaped schnitzel, i'd probably propose right then and there all leap-year style. but then i go on to discuss the downsides of eating so much schnitzel (especially when there is a cute valentine's day outfit to wear) and give an alternative yet equally as tasty option complete with the superhero spice blend za'atar. za'atar!!!!

it's a really tasty valentine's day meal if i do say so myself. i won't be having it because i had it every day for a week when i was testing this recipe. but you should!

-yeh!