5.26.20 Meal Prep Monday (a day late)

Hello friends! I hope everyone had a lovely, safe, and delicious Memorial day weekend! J and I had a chill weekend, and while he was playing board games with his friends, I took the chance to do some experimenting in the kitchen. One recipe came out exactly how I wanted it to, and I’m so excited to share it with you later this week. But first – meal prep!

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m really leaning into the WFH life, and my meal preps are reflecting that. This week I was craving chicken pot pie, despite the rapidly rising temperatures, so that’s what I went with! After some research, I decided to more or less wing it, and I’m so glad I did. It’s creamy, comforting, full of veg, and rich but not too rich – eating it doesn’t make you feel TOO full, just happily full and ready to keep working, and maybe make some progress.

Anyone who knows me knows I love carbs, and with this recipe I think I’ve finally figured out my new go-to biscuit recipe. They’re flaky and delicious, and just look at those layers! The key was rolling out the dough, quartering it, then stacking and re-flattening to cut out the final biscuits. I added some rosemary, just to give them that extra flavor, and they’re the best complement to the filling. I went with a relatively small biscuit, about 1 inch square, so I could put a few on top of each serving, but you can totally make them bigger, just maybe increase the baking time a bit. Also, making a double batch of the biscuits and freezing the extras for a rainy day is never a bad idea!

If you want to do this as a traditional meal prep, I would cook the biscuits separate from the filling, then, after heating up the filling, nestle the biscuits on top. Or, if you’re WFH and want to take the time, make the biscuits and freeze them. Then, put your filling in an individual, oven-safe dish, top with the biscuits, and bake until the filling is toasty warm and the biscuits are cooked through. Either way, I’m loving my winter food just as the weather is getting hot.

Ingredients

For the filling

  • 2 chicken breasts or shredded meat from 1 rotisserie chicken
  • 2-3 tsp paprika
  • salt
  • 3 Tbsp butter
  • 2 carrots, chopped into coins
  • 2 celery stalks, sliced
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 C mixed veg, fresh or frozen
  • 1/4 C flour
  • 1/3 C white wine (optional)
  • 1.5 tsp dried sage
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 C veg or chicken broth
  • 1/4 C heavy cream (optional)

For the biscuits

  • 1.5 C flour
  • 1.5 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 sticks cold butter, cubed
  • 1/2 C cold buttermilk

How to do it

For the filling

  1. If using chicken breasts, season liberally with paprika and salt and place into a crock pot. Cover with water and cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 6-8 hours or until the chicken is cooked through and can easily be shredded. Alternatively, use a rotisserie chicken
  2. Melt butter in the bottom of a dutch over or heavy pot over medium heat. Once melted, add the carrots, celery, and onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the onion is translucent and carrots and celery are becoming tender
  3. Stir in flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Then add the wine, if using, and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pot and cook for another 2-3 minutes
  4. Add the sage, bay leaves, broth, additional veg, and chicken to the pot and allow the mixture to barely simmer until the veg are done to your liking. I like mine a bit crunchy, so about 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add salt/pepper/thyme as needed. If it becomes too thick, add additional broth or some water
  5. Stir in heavy cream

For the biscuits

  1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl
  2. Add butter and rub between your fingertips until all of the butter has broken down into the size of peas and is distributed throughout the flour mixture
  3. Slowly add the buttermilk, stirring to distribute, and continue to mix until a shaggy dough forms
  4. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, adding more flour or milk as needed to bring it together. The dough shouldn’t be sticky
  5. Flatten the dough out into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Cut the rectangle into quarters, then stack all 4 quarters on top of each other
  6. Pat the dough back down, using a rolling pin if you’d like, to about 3/4″ thick
  7. Cut biscuit with a sharp knife into 1″ squares

Bringing it all together

  1. Preheat the oven to 400*
  2. Fill an oven safe container no more than 3/4 of the way full with the filling. This can be done as one large serving, or several individual servings. See the post above for tips on making this a meal prep
  3. Top with the desired number of biscuits. Brush them with an egg wash, cream, or leave them plain if you don’t have either
  4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is hot and the biscuit is cooked through
  5. Enjoy!

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