Neddy’s Kitchen

This old fashioned comfort food is really quite easy to make. It is a good way to use leftover cooked chicken.

The Dumplings

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 cup milk

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and milk in a medium bowl. Stir well until smooth, then let the dough rest for 5-10 minutes. Place the dough on a floured pastry cloth and with floured hands, pat into a square about a 1/2 inch thickness. Cut the dough into 1/2 inch squares.

The Chicken Broth

• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1 small onion cut in fourths
• 1/2 pound fresh carrots sliced
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/2 pound frozen peas
• 1 pound cooked chicken

Place the broth, onion and carrots in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and drop each dumpling square, one at a time, into the simmering stock. The dumplings will swell, then slowly shrink as they thicken the chicken broth. Simmer for 20-30 minutes uncovered until thick. Stir often.

While the stock is thickening, remove the chicken meat from the bones, removing all skin. Cut into bite-size pieces. Add the poultry seasoning, frozen peas and deboned chicken to the pot and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.

When the gravy has reached the desired consistency, sprinkle with freshly grated pepper and garnish with chopped parsley. Serves four.

This year I created a Turkey Pie recipe to serve during the Thanksgiving weekend. I based it upon the French-Canadian tourtière recipe that I sometimes made years ago, using ground turkey breast in place of most of the ground pork.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 pounds ground turkey breast
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons ground sage
• 1 tablespoon marjoram
• 1 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• ground cinnamon
• salt and pepper
• pie-crust dough for 2 double crust pies (I used “Perfect Pie Crust”, omitting the sugar.)

PREPARATION:
Combine ground meats, sliced potatoes, chopped onions and bay leaves in large pot. Add 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper. Add 1-2 cups of water or broth and simmer mixture, covered, for 30-45 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and drain excess water, if necessary. Remove bay leaves. Mash thoroughly, using potato masher. If mixture seems too moist, thicken with a small amount of instant mashed potatoes or dry bread crumbs. Mix in sage, marjoram and allspice and add more salt and pepper to taste. Cool.

Roll half the pastry into two 12-inch circles. Line two 9-inch pie plates with pastry. Trim pastry even with rim. Divide the meat mixture among them, smoothing the filling. Roll out remaining dough for tops. Place over fillings; trim to 1/2 inch beyond rim. Seal; flute, sprinkle with flour and cut small slits in the top. Cut out a turkey shaped stencil or use a cookie cutter and place on top of each pie crust. Sprinkle top of pie with cinnamon, then remove stencil. Bake at 400° for 45 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings for each pie.

The image, Turkey Pies, was originally uploaded to the Internet by barneykin. It was posted here by Neddy of .

Visit Neddy’s Store

Chicken Divan has always been a great American dish to serve when entertaining ladies. The original recipe was created by the Divan Parisienne Restaurant in New York City. Rice makes a good accompaniment, such as this Curried Rice Salad.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds cooked chicken breasts
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups diced leek, white and light green parts only (about 1 large)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 14-16 ounces chicken broth
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons dry white wine
• 1 pound small broccoli crowns
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 7-by-11-inch (2 quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Debone and shred cooked chicken breasts.
3. Heat butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add leek and and cook, stirring often, until softened but not browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Add flour; stir to coat. Add broth, sherry, and seasoning and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
4. Steam broccoli about five minutes to al dente and arrange in the prepared baking dish. Top with half the sauce. Place the shredded chicken on top.
5. In a medium-size mixing bowl, beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form, then fold into remaining sauce, along with the Parmesan cheese. Pour evenly over the chicken and lightly sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese or slivered almonds. Bake for 20 minutes or until heated through and bubbly, then broil just until the sauce is golden, about 5 minutes.

Makes six servings.

After finding and trying a recipe on the back of a jar of spaghetti sauce, I felt like I had been a dummy all those years that I had started my lasagna recipes by first boiling, carefully draining, and handling the wet noodles. This recipe uses those same noodles - uncooked, and it tastes the same.

• 2 26-ounce jars of spaghetti sauce
• 1 box of uncooked lasagna noodles (18 noodles)
• 4-6 cups (16-24 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 15-ounce containers ricotta cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a large deep baking dish with cooking oil. In a bowl mix the ricotta, one half of the mozzarella (or substitute provolone here for a bit of variety) and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheeses. (Frozen or fresh spinach, chopped parsley, freshly ground pepper, 2 beaten eggs, dried basil or Italian seasoning may be added, if desired.)

Layer 1/4th of the spaghetti sauce, 6 noodles and 1/3rd of the cheese mixture in the baking dish. (A layer of cooked italian sausage or sliced sauteed mushrooms may be added.) Repeat twice. Layer with the final 1/4 of the sauce. Top with the remaining mozzarella and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheeses.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 15 minutes longer. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

This recipe yields about 20 servings, a large amount of lasagna. If you are not serving it for a party, refrigerate the leftovers in the original pan until chilled. With a sharp knife, neatly cut into serving size portions, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze. These leftovers are delicious when thawed and warmed and top with hot spaghetti sauce.