It’s comfort food season! Hot dish, stews, and hearty meals abound. But when you think “comfort food,” you might be thinking slow cookers and hours in the oven. But with this hack, your dinners can take about fifteen minutes or less. And that is very comforting.
Enter: Creamy Chicken and Vegetables. Basically, it’s pot pie filling. However, you can use it for so much more. This tasty staple has been gracing America’s dinner tables for decades, in many forms. The base filling is freezable, so you can make a batch, freeze in portions, thaw it on the stove top when you need it, and dinner is ready in no time. Pair it with just about anything from your pantry:
-Serve over pasta or egg noodles
-Bake with wild rice or regular rice
-Serve with biscuits, bread, or dumplings
-Make pot pies or Shepherd’s pie
-Make soup with chicken stock and noodles
-Serve over mashed potatoes
-Serve over spaghetti squash
See, the possibilities are (kind of) endless! So, go ahead and make an extra big batch (recipe below) of Creamy Chicken & Vegetables to freeze as a back-up for your dinners. The method is simple, and you’ll get to rest in the comfort of knowing a hearty meal will be ready when you are.
Recipe: Creamy Chicken & Vegetables
Ingredients:
4-6 carrots, 1/2″ dice
1 bunch of celery, 1/2″ dice
1 small rutabaga, (optional), 1/2″ dice
2 small onions, 1/2″ dice
2 Tablespoons butter
3-4 Tablespoons flour
2-4 cups of chicken stock
2 cups cooked chicken, diced
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and 1/2″ diced
2 teaspoons sage or poultry seasoning
1 tsp dill
1 tsp tarragon
Pinch of nutmeg
salt & pepper, to taste
1 cup frozen peas
2/3 cup cream or half & half
Directions:
In a large stew pot, sauté the carrots, rutabaga (if using), celery, and onion over medium-high heat in olive oil until they begin to sweat.
Once the vegetables are fragrant, stir in two tablespoons of butter until it’s melted; then sprinkle in about 3-4 tablespoons of flour and mix it together to create a roux mixture with your vegetables. (This is called the Singer method for thickening. It’s pronounced sahn-jay 😉
Then, gradually stir in chicken stock, making sure there are no lumps from the flour. Add diced potatoes and seasonings. Bring to a simmer until the vegetables are soft and the potatoes and roux are cooked, about 10 minutes. You can add more stock or flour if you need to adjust the thickness.
Add cooked diced chicken and frozen peas. Finish with cream or half and half; adjust the seasonings to taste.
Happy Cooking!