Improv Chicken and Biscuits
I think I should start this post off by being completely honest about something:
This was supposed to be a different dish.
Not a HUGELY different one, but a different one all the same.
It just didn’t happen that way. Because…stupid stuff.
I originally set out to use my new springform pan to bake a deep dish chicken pot pie that I’ve had my cooking eye on for a while. I had a spare pie crust in my freezer that’s been there since I made my Deep Dish Apple pie a few months back. I thought that since it’d been in the freezer all this time, and since I could still see the chunks of butter in the dough that it would be okay to just thaw in the fridge and use, thus sparing me the necessity of making another pie crust from scratch.
I thought.
So what had happened was, I rolled out the thawed pie crust and lined it in my springform pan. I thought it felt and looked fine. There waaaaaas a tiny little problem though: I didn’t have parchment paper and/or pie weights or beans to place on top of the crust while it pre-baked in the oven. All I had was aluminum foil.
So I knocked on wood,placed a layer of foil on top of crust and put it in the oven and waited for something to happen.
And turns out, something DID happen…it just wasn’t a very good something.
About ten minutes into the bake, (just to be on the safe side) I looked in the oven and lifted the foil.
Yeah so….the crust was collapsing in the pan in a gelatinous, greasy pile. It was a hot mess.
No WAY was this gonna work.
To be perfectly honest, I have NO idea what I did wrong, guys.
Maybe I really did need the parchment paper and pie weights. Like, maybe they were the “heart and soul” of the recipe. (Doubt it, but hey, could be.)
It’s very possible and likely that the fats in the butter of the frozen pie crust over the long period of time had in the freezer, I don’t know….evaporated? Maybe there’s an expiration date on frozen pie crust. I didn’t think so, but maybe there is. If one of you out there happens to be a food scientist, maybe you can explain it to me.
But then, I’m also half convinced that the oven in our new apartment hasn’t been properly calibrated. Despite being an electric range like our last one was, it takes longer to bake things in this oven than the allotted time for recipes–sometimes much longer. I’m planning on going out and buying an oven thermometer this weekend and testing the temps to confirm my suspicions. I’m hoping I’m wrong about that though.
Regardless, my plans for a deep dish chicken pot pie were screwed.
The problem was, I couldn’t just walk away. I’d already started making the filling. I’d involved myself. I was committed to this now.
After promptly shoving the misshapen blob of deceased, failed pie crust into the trash can, I took a step back and thought: How was I going to salvage this dish to my satisfaction? Technically, I could’ve just made the filling and served it all on its own. I just didn’t want to do that.
I had started cooking with the expectation that we were going to have chicken pot pie for dinner, not just chicken pot pie filling. I wanted the carbohydrate-stick to your-ribs-chicken pot pie-experience. You can’t get that with filling all on its own: that’s just called a chicken stew.
As a general habit, I try to always have a box or two of frozen butter in my freezer at all times. That way, I always have butter that’s cold enough to make two things whenever I want: pie crust, and biscuits. After the embarrassing defeat of my other failed pie crust, I wasn’t up for making another one of those just then. Biscuits were an easier and quicker alternative (especially considering I only had a few more hours left until it would too dark outside for me to take pictures.)
I still had quite a bit of fresh rosemary left from making the filling that was meant to go in my pie. So I called an audible and decided that I was going to make rosemary scented buttermilk biscuits to serve with the chicken filling.
Fortunately, the biscuits came together VERY quickly and easily. I was in a frustrated, frenzied hurry so I actually handled and kneaded at the dough much more than I’m usually comfortable with when I make biscuits, and they STILL came out flaky and tender on the inside. With some chicken filling spooned on top of these babies, you really are in for what I like to think of as the quintessential winter comfort food that makes you want to take a nap as soon as it’s gone. So despite my snafu with the failed pie crust, I still feel pretty good about how I rocked this out. It turned out well.
Y’know, thanks to improvisation and stuff. Thus the name of the recipe.
(I’ll be taking this dish to Fiesta Friday #104, co-hosted this week by Mila @ milkandbun and Hilda @ Along The Grapevine.)
*************************************************************************************
Improv Chicken and Biscuits
Recipe Adapted from Food 52 & Serious Eats
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 1 16 oz. bag of frozen mixed vegetables
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Onion Powder
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 sprigs rosemary
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tbsp-1 tbsp. honey mustard (depending on taste preference)
- 4 cups chopped, cooked chicken (about 1 large rotisserie chicken)
For the Biscuits
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 large eggs, 1 whole, 1 beaten
- 2 1/4 cups (13 ounces) all-purpose or low-protein biscuit flour, such as White Lily or Adluh
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/5 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) frozen unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary
Directions
For the Chicken:
In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the onions and sweat until the onions are translucent, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the bag of frozen veggies, cook for further 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, 1 minute more. Remove the vegetables from the pot.
Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour. Cook until the mixture is just starting to turn golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Gradually whisk in the chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the vegetables back to the pot, along with the bay leaf, rosemary, and thyme. Season with salt, black pepper, onion powder and the honey mustard. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir in the cream, and chicken and return to a simmer. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes more. Remove the mixture from the heat.
For the Biscuits:
In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, cream, and whole egg.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and chopped rosemary. Using the large grates on a box grater, grate the butter directly into the flour mixture and toss gently with a spatula until fully coated. Working quickly and using your fingers, rub butter into flour until butter forms marble-sized pieces. Alternatively, add flour mixture and butter to food processor and pulse 2 to 3 times to form marble-sized pieces; transfer to a large bowl.
Add buttermilk mixture and gently mix with a fork until just combined; the dough should look somewhat dry and shaggy. Cover and let rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Form dough into a rectangle, lightly pressing and folding to bring it together; avoid squeezing or kneading the dough.
Fold dough into thirds like a letter. Using rolling pin, roll out dough and repeat folding once more. Roll out dough to about 1/2-inch thickness. Wrap in plastic and transfer to refrigerator for 10 minutes.
Return dough to work surface, and, using a 3-inch round cookie-cutter and pressing down without a twisting motion, cut out biscuits as closely together as possible. Gather together scraps, pat down, and cut out more biscuits; discard any remaining scraps. Brush the top of each biscuit with egg-wash.
Bake the biscuits in a 400°F oven until risen and golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly, then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with the smothered chicken.
Ugh, I’ve had this problem with homemade pie crust before when it was fresh, so I don’t think anything happened to your fat to make it evaporate. I always figured that the reason my pie crust was collapsing was that it wasn’t cold enough when it went into the oven, thus allowing the butter to melt quickly– too quickly, so the protein structure in the flour hadn’t had a chance to set up firmly enough to keep things from collapsing. Or the oven temperature was wrong– you need to find the right temperature to let the flour part cook before the butter part completely melts away. Or something like that…
Thanks for your advice Tanya; I’m thinking that it may be this stove. I bought a oven thermometer this weekend, so I’m gonna test my temps to see if maybe that had a part in what was going on…
You can come over and ‘improv’ this meal any time you want. Perfect winter food! Looks super yummy too.
Thank you Serena; it turned out very nice under the circumstances, I though 😉
What a great way to salvage your recipe Jess! I think the mark of a good cook is what they do when everything goes wrong. As a side note, I just started freezing my butter this month for the first time. How did I never think of this before?!?!
Aww, thank you Heather. I just hate when things go wrong in the kitchen because it could equal wasted food = wasted money. I’m frugal, so it’s my default to immediately go into damage control lol
YUM, love this the bisucuits look so good and all that gorgeous creamy chicken loaded in between is pretty much heaven.
I gotta say Suzanne, this really hit the spot. Thank you 🙂
Despite all of your issues while making this dish- it looks AMAZING!! The filling is perfection- YUM. I think it was meant to be served with your fabulous biscuits. 😉
Thanks Josette; this kind of food really does just make me happy. Plus, without pie crust, it give me more excuses to eat more filling lol
I like this option much better anyway! Make it seem “fancier” than a traditional pot pie. Absolutely beautiful. I’ll be stealing this idea.
Thank you! I’m relieved to hear you think this is the better option anyway; I was worried it was ‘too’ ordinary. 😉
woah! yummmyyy!
That it was lol Thank you 🙂
I already imagined how I’m taking that biscuit and dipping into chicken.. mmmm yummy! 🙂
Happy FF, Jess!
I have taste-tested this method.
It.is.per-FECTION.
Thanks; Happy FF to you too 😀
This recipe is proof positive that “failures” in the kitchen can lead to “experimental perfections”. Well done, Jess…way to save the day (and a meal too!). 😀
Thank you Nancy 🙂
Jess, you are not alone in this, though I am not talking about pie crust for myself. But it is really amazing how we get so creative despite of the not so good experience we just had. Or maybe we didn’t have any choice, but to think of something that would make us feel better. Nonetheless, your still rock! This looks fabulously good and I want some now! 😀 Happy FF104! x
You’re always so sweet Jhuls. Thank you 😀 Happy FF 104 to you too!
Oh my gosh! This chicken and biscuit look so delish! I can’t wait to make these, Jess! And I hate it when things don’t go according to plan, but these biscuits are so perfect for this recipe =)
I really don’t think you’ll be disappointed Andrea; this is one of the best things I’ve made all winter., hands down. Thank you 😀
Chicken stew does call for home-made biscuits, and yours look delicious. I think the use of buttermilk and rosemary must make them really special.
The dish just would’t be the same without the biscuits Hilda. I’m so pleased that I decided to go to Plan B and make them after the pie crust failed. Thank you!
You ended up with a wonderful dish–the chicken and biscuits look yummy! 🙂
Thank you Nancy, this was a VERY tasty dish 🙂