One Dish Dinner to Die For!

Do you feel completely cooked out after the holidays?  Have you made so many dishes, sides, salads and desserts that you think you go just skip eating for a week?  Well, I do.  The problem with that thought process is that my family still wants to eat.  So, to make things a little easier on me, I have been cranking out simple meals and the best one dish dinners. 

A good friend of mine shared the original recipe for Chicken Pot Pie with a Biscuit Top.  It was an Emeril Lagasse recipe.  I have made it a couple of different ways now; once with leftover Thanksgiving turkey and most recently with rotisserie chicken.  The best part are those wonderful tarragon biscuits that top the chicken pot pie. I ever had a few extras that I baked and served with dinner.  Every crumb was gobbled up!

Chicken Pot Pie

• 1 rotisserie chicken, deboned and shredded or chopped into chunks
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
• 2-3 T. Land 'O Lakes Light Butter
• 1 lb. mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
• 1 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 2-3 carrots, diced small
• 3/4 c. small diced celery
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or run through a garlic press
• 1/4 c. all purpose flour
• 4 c. chicken stock
• 8 oz. Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and diced
• 1 T. fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 c. frozen green peas
• 1 recipe of Tarragon Biscuits (recipe follows)

Add the 2 to 3 tablespoons of light butter to a large cast iron skillet (or super fab braising pot like I used) and melt over medium heat.  Add mushrooms and salt and pepper.  Cook the mushrooms until they are well caramelized, 4 minutes.  Next, add onion, carrots, celery and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.  Add 1/4 c. flour and stir constantly for 1 minute.  Add the stock, potatoes and thyme. 

Bring liquid to a boil, reduce the heat so that the sauce just simmers, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender.  (about 35 minutes)  Add the cooked chicken to the mixture after about 15 minutes into the 35 minute cook time.  Gently stir in peas and remove from heat.  Place the biscuits on top of the chicken and gravy, with 8 biscuits around the edges and 4 biscuits in the center.  Be sure the biscuits do not touch.  Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter and bake in a PREHEATED oven at 475 degrees for 15 minutes.  Allow the pot pie to sit about 5-10 minutes prior to serving. 

Tarragon Biscuits

• 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 c. cake flour
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 5 T. cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 1 T. chopped fresh tarragon leaves
• 1 1/2 c. buttermilk

Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt into a large bowl.  Using your fingers or pastry cutter, work the cold butter into the flour until the pieces of butter are pea sized.  Add the tarragon and buttermilk, and with your hands or a rubber spatula, stir until the milk and flour come together to form a dough.

Sprinkle flour onto a work surface and place the dough on top of the flour.  Use your hands to press the dough into a half inch think disk, about 9 inches in diameter.  Using a 2 inch round cutter dusted with flour (or glass), cut out 12 dough rounds.  Be sure to PRESS straight down when cutting the dough--a twisting motion will prevent the dough from rising.

Place the biscuits on top of the pot pie and bake as directed.