https://www.notesfromamessykitchen.com

UnBook Clubs and Comfort Food

Posted on
by
Categories:

I’m sure I do myself no favors in advertising an Achilles’ heel, but  if you give me enough wine I’ll probably join your book club.  Well, apparently I really like wine, and not too long ago I found myself in three book clubs.  I quickly found that three was alot to balance with planning a wedding, training for a marathon and working a full-time job, and didn’t protest when my “Ladies book club” (I’d coined each as to not confuse my Gcalendar) agreed that we’d really prefer to be a ladies wine, cheese and supper club.  We each take turns hosting, guests bring the wine, and the books stay on the shelves.

January was my month to host, and although I’d been leaning towards making lots of fun Hors d’œuvres, I felt like the weather we’ve been having called for some comfort food (this is now the second dinner I’ve mentioned that was postponed due to last week’s ‘thundersnow’ episode!)

Tomato, mozzarella and basil skewers
I started the meal off with tomato, mozzarella and basil skewers, one of my recent favorite Hors d’œuvres.  These add freshness and color and are so simple you don’t even need a recipe: just thread the above on a skewer, drizzle with oil and balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle with sea salt and stone ground pepper, if desired.
For the main course, I decided I would use the chicken and root vegetable pot pie recipe I’ve been experimenting with, but make individual pies.  Unlike with a traditional pot pie, I only put the crust on top.  This creates what in my opinion is a much more satisfying crust-to-filling ratio and proves that comfort food can be healthy without sacrificing the taste.
Serving Size:  6 Individual Pies
Ingredients:
-2.5 cups fat-free, low sodium chicken broth.
-2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
-1 large parsnip, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
-2 medium carrots, coarsely sliced
-1 cup pearl onions, cut into fourths
-1 1/2 cup frozen peas
-8 oz can of sweet corn
-3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cubed
-1/2 cup whole wheat flour
-1 1/4 cup skim milk
-2 tbsp fresh thyme
-1.5 tsp salt
-1 tsp pepper
-6 large pull-apart buttermilk biscuits (I used Pillsbury)
 
Bring broth to a boil in a large sauce pan.  Add next ingredients, through corn; cover, reduce heat and  let simmer for seven minutes.  Add chicken; cook for five minutes, or until chicken is cooked.  Transfer chicken and vegetable mixture into a large bowl.  Return broth to bowl by pouring mixture into a strainer; set chicken and vegetable mixture aside and return broth to medium heat.
 
Put flour into a medium bowl; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until well blended.  Add milk mixture, thyme, salt and pepper to brother; cook until thickened, stirring often.  Stir in chicken and vegetable mixture, mixing well.  Distribute evenly into six miniature pie pans.  Separate biscuits and roll flat; place on top of each pie, centered.  center of each pie.  Bake at 400° until biscuits are a golden brown and filling is bubbly.
Nutrition per pie:  460 calories; 12 g fat; 61 g carbohydrates; 7g fiber; 28g protein
This is a nice and hearty dish, but there’s always room for dessert!  Cheese is to Emily as chocolate is to me– the only true way to enjoy dessert– so I went with a combo to please us both.  Trader Joe’s has an amazing blueberry vanilla chèvre that I bought for the first time on a whim for one of our roomie cheese and wine nights.  We quickly discovered it to be an excellent dessert cheese, so I served with Le Petit Beurre European Biscuits.  To satisfy my own needs, I added my favorite Ghirardelli bar– the Sea Salt Soiree dark chocolate.

Johanna

One Comment Hide Comments

Add Your Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: