The Cook’s Kitchen

The wind was howling and the snow was swirling sideways past the windows, but inside our family was feasting on a Sunday dinner of leftovers creatively reconfigured into new dishes.Following a Friday night casual kitchen supper for 10 friends (and… yes, I had been at work all day), I was left with an abundance of leftover roasted lemon-herb chicken, roasted rosemary potatoes, and roasted root vegetables. It wasn’t that the dinner wasn’t well received - it definitely was, but too many appetizers, plus a few last minute cancellations… well, you get the idea.

Reminiscent of my mother’s war time cooking, where not a bread crust went to waste, a recipe search mixed with some creativity produced a perfect menu to use up the leftovers for our family’s Sunday dinner: Chicken pot pie, and root vegetable puree, served along with fresh farmer’s market Rapini. As I couldn’t resist the bargain basement blueberries on sale this week in the local grocery store that were 2 pints for 99 cents, dessert was a deliciously moist Blueberry Butter Cake.

Chicken Pot Pie

2-1/2 cups bite-sized cooked chicken
1 apple, peeled and cored
3 carrots
1/2 cup butter
2 onions, finely chopped
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/3 homogenized milk
1/2 tsp each salt and sage
1/4 tsp each curry powder and savory
Puff pastry for 10-inch crust

Place cooked chicken in a deep 10-inch pie plate. Cut apple into 1/3 inch cubes and carrots in 1/3 inch slices and add.

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare sauce by melting 2 tbsp butter in a saucepan. Add onions. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp curry. Saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add to chicken. Melt 1/3 cup butter in pan. Blend in flour. Stir over medium heat until bubbly. Gradually stir in milk and remaining seasonings. Continue stirring until sauce is very thick. Pour over chicken and vegetables and stir until mixed. Roll out pastry to a 12 inch circle. Place over pie plate and pinch edges to seal. Make a small hole in pastry. Bake for 1 hour until golden.

Note: If you don’t have leftover chicken to use, buy a grocery store rotisserie chicken, and cut into pieces - no one needs to know.

Source: Chatelaine Magazine

Mix n’ Match Root Vegetable Puree

1 kg of your choice of root vegetables, cut into chunks
1 whole bulb of garlic
4 tsp olive oil
4 tbsp sour cream (add more as needed)
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt, black pepper, freshly grated nutmeg

Heat the oven to 350F. Put the garlic bulk on a piece of foil, sprinkle with the olive oil, wrap up and bake until very soft and squashy, 35-45 minutes. Take out of the oven and cool slightly. Cut the garlic bulb in half crosswise and squeeze out the garlic pulp from the papery skins.

Unless you are using leftover roasted roots, as I did, put your choice of roots in a large pan of cold salted water. Bring to the boil and with the lid on, simmer steadily rather than boiling hard until tender. Test after 20 minutes with a fork. Drain and then put back in the dry pan over a low heat to steam out any wateriness. Using either an electric mixer or a food processor, mash to a smooth puree. Then beat the garlic, oil or butter, cream, lemon and generous seasoning until the puree is really light and fluffy.

Puree can be prepared several hours in advance and reheated either in a covered pan on a low heat or covered in a 300F oven.
Note: Use potatoes, celeriac, parsnips, sweet potatoes, carrots, turnips, rutabagas, either singly or in combination.

Source: Favorite Recipes from Books for Cooks 1, 2 & 3

Sauteed Broccoli Rabe or Rapini

2 bunches broccoli rabe
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 tbsp oilve oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
lemon wedges (optional)

Trim large stems from the broccoli rabe and discard. Wash and leave slightly wet. In a large saucepan with a lid, cook the garlic in oil over medium low heat until golden brown.

Add the broccoli rabe to the pot, turn heat to medium high, sprinkle with salt, and cover. Remove lid to stir every minute or so until rabe is completely wilted,about 5 minutes. Season with pepper and fresh lemon juice if desired.

Source: The best of Martha Stewart Living, What to Have for Dinner

Blueberry Butter Cake

Topping:

1 cup soft brown sugar
4 tbsp plain (all purpose flour)
5 tbsp cold butter

Cake:

2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
2 cups blueberries

Heat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9 1/2 inch spring form pan and line the base with baking parchment.

Make the topping. Put the sugar, flour and butter in a bowl and either cut with 2 knives or rub with fingertips until crumbly.

Make the cake. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat the butter and sugar together until white and fluffy. Beat in the eggs a little at a time, sprinkling in 1 tbsp of the lfour mix. When you have added about half of the beaten eggs (this is to stop curdling). Add one third of the flour to the beaten butter-sugar-eggs mixture and fold in. Add one-third of the sour cream and fold in. Alternately add the remaining flour and sour cream until evenly combined.

Spread the batter in the cake tin and cover with an even layer of blueberries. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the blueberries. Bake until the sides of the cake have shrunk slightly away from the tin and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Place on a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes before unmoulding. You can serve it warm as a dessert or leave to cool completely and serve as a morning coffee or tea time treat.

Source: Favorite Recipes from Books 4, 5, 6 Books for Cooks