Archive for January 3rd, 2007

Quick, think back. What is the one thing you loved most as a child? The one thing you wanted all the time?

Well, okay. There’s macaroni and cheese. What else?

Chicken pot pie.

I’m not going to give a chicken pot pie recipe right now — though I’ll publish several in the near future. What I’m going to do instead is lament the disappearance of one of its close kin, a classic in the 50s and 60s, until it faded from memory in the 70s.

The 70s are usually thought of as the decade of music and fashion hell, but food in the 70s was every bit as embarrassing. Does anybody remember the Harvey Wallbanger craze, and the resulting Harvey Wallbanger cake, Harvey Wallbanger pie, Harvey Wallbanger cheesecake, and enough with the Harvey Wallbanger already? And fondue. Please. How silly was that? Let’s invite lots of stoned people in silly polyester outfits over so we can smoke joints and dip little cubes of bread in melted cheese.

And folks, that sort of nonsense is why our lamented classic is forgotten. Fondue and Harvey Wallbanger cake.

So I bring you that first cousin of the chicken pot pie and classic through the 60s . . .

Chicken à la King

If you have leftover chicken or turkey, you can use the leftovers and skip cooking, boning, and dicing the chicken. You can also ritz this up anyway you like. You can add sherry, mushrooms (though then you get perilously close to Tetrazzini), tarragon, anything you want. Also, you can serve it the homey way as presented here, or you can make puff pastry shells, bake them, and serve it in them. Oh. I prefer roasted red peppers, but if you want to be more traditional, use pimentos instead.

2 chicken breasts (neither boneless nor skinless!)
3 c. chicken stock

4 T. butter
3 T. (heaping) flour
1 c. heavy cream
1 c. frozen peas
4 strips roasted red peppers
1/2 T. rubbed sage or poultry seasoning
salt and pepper
1 recipe buttermilk biscuits

Preheat oven to 375 Simmer the chicken breasts in the stock for 20 minutes (yes, the chicken will be just a tad underdone, but you’re going to put it in the oven and bake it later). Remove chicken, turn the stock up high, and reduce to two cups. Add sage (or poultry seasoning). Bone and dice cooled chicken.

In a heavy pan, make a roux: Melt the butter, and add the flour all at once. Stir over medium heat until it forms a paste. Turn the heat up high and add the 2 cups of stock, stirring constantly, until the stock thickens. Add the cream, chicken, peas, and peppers, and continue to cook for a couple of minutes. Salt and pepper to taste, and pour into a 13×9x2 baking pan.

Make the biscuits. Cut out the biscuits and place them on top. Bake 20-25 minutes, until chicken is bubbly and the biscuits are golden brown.

And now, I’m off to make some for dinner . . .

Posted by rightwingprof on January 3, 2007 at 6:41 pm under Food.
4 Comments.

This geological timeline is very cool — click on the links to drill down to the biological data for the period.

Posted by rightwingprof on January 3, 2007 at 3:39 pm under Education.
1 Comment.

One aspect of the case of illegally-imprisoned U.S. Special Forces soldier Jack Idema that is always worth re-visiting is the horrendous treatment he and his men were subjected to after their arrest.

While Jack and his team (operating one of fifty-or-so similar SF safe-houses in Afghanistan) have been proven to have tortured no one, during the month of July 2004, Jack was beaten so badly by his pro-Taliban interrogators that he suffered the following injuries:

Posted by rightwingprof on January 3, 2007 at 10:46 am under GWOT.
1 Comment.

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Posted by rightwingprof on January 3, 2007 at 10:05 am under Free Thread.
5 Comments.