Basically it's a chicken pot pie, but you can hold it like a hot pocket! The dough is crispy and crunchy and the insides were just mouthwatering! To finish off, I also made a Double Chocolate Cherry Cake from scratch, and that was the bomb! I'll submit that a little later or tomorrow morning ;D
You're gonna start out making a sauce reduction! There are a lot of steps in this recipe, I know. But if you have two little helpers like I did you'll be done in no time. I'd say from start to finish [making a cake at the same time!], it only took an hour and a half. And we were cooking for 6 people too! It's all about time management and realizing what's gonna take the longest and what's gonna be done lickety-split.
Ingredients for sauce reduction:
• 2 cans of chicken brother
• dash of soy sauce
• dash of balsamic vinegar
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• 2 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 to 2 cups of heavy creme
• squeeze of half a lemon
• pinch of flour, or many pinches!
Combine everything, bring to a boil, reduce to medium-low and cook until creamy. About an hour or so, simmering away. At the end I slowly add a pinch or so of flour just to thicken it up a bit, it's going to be spooned into the pockets individually before you wrap them up, so it has to be pretty thick otherwise you'll make a mess!
Ingredients for pastry dough:
• 4 cups of flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 sticks of butter, chilled.
• dash of cold milk, [maybe, if too dry]
• big dash of salt
• dash of rosemary
• dash of pepper
First put all your dry ingredients together and make a little well in the middle. Cut up your sticks of butter into .5 inch slices and slowly with your fingers crumble the butter and flour together. The dough and butter should be well combine, but not completely. It should have a very chunky feel to it. Crack in your eggs and continue to mix, you should see your dough start to come together now. At this point, you may or may not needs the dash of cold milk. I usually use at least a little cause your dough should still be pretty dry.
Place it on a floured surface and start to knead the dough with the palms of your hand, grinding the butter against the hard surface. Repeating until the dough is more uniform, but still should be chunky! The point is that the butter is cold so it leaves a nice flakiness to the dough once you start to bake it in the oven. Set in the fridge covered while you continue cooking.
Ingredients for filling:
• 3 pounds of chicken breast
• .5 stick of butter
• 3 to 4 cups of fresh garden peas, or frozen
• 5 to 6 fresh carrots, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• .5 of an onion, thinly chopped
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of white vinegar
• squeeze of lemon
• drizzle of heavy creme
Start with a 1/4 stick of butter, your carrots, garlic, onions, vinegar, and spices and saute them covered for about 15 minutes. Stirring periodically so they don't burn. Once they're almost cooked through, add the peas for the last 5 minutes or so.
Beat the shit out of your chicken breasts, i'm telling you! Go to down, they should look like a nice flattened piece of roadkill by the time you're done with them, just barely being able to hold themselves together. I can't remember what this process is called, but it starts with a 'P!' Ten points who can tell me, haha. Also, squeeze the lemon over the chicken and salt and pepper lightly.
Take the other 1/4 stick of butter, and put it on high heat. Once it's sizzlin', throw your chicken onto the skillet and brown on each side. Cook them almost all the way through, but not entirely! Set aside, let cool, and shred the dickens out of them.
In the meantime, you're gonna make a sauce reduction as well! These are a lot of steps, I know. But if you have two little helpers like I did you'll be done in no time. I'd say from start to finish making a cake at the same time, it only took an hour and a half. And we were cooking for 6 people too! It's all about time management and realizing what's gonna take the longest and what's gonna be done lickety-split.
Time to take the dough out of the fridge, preheat your oven to 375F, and roll it out! You should have enough dough for 6 good sized pockets, maybe even 8 if you roll it out thin enough. I used a rolling pin, lightly dusted with flour, and a pizza cutter to trim the outside edges.
You want the pockets to be about 5 by 6 inches, fill them up with the warm veggies from the stove, and the shredded chicken you should have on stand-by. Put a good dollop of the sauce reduction in as well, and close it quickly! Take a drop of the sauce on your finger, line the outer edge quick-style, fold, pinch, and roll! Place it on a baking pan lined with parchment paper, and repeat 5 more times!
Take some room temperature butter and slather the tops of these babies before you bake em, pinch a little extra salt and pepper too. Maybe if you had some shredded cheese? Put that on the last 5 minutes or so of baking, or right before the broiler part! Go crazy!
You'll get the hang of it. I promise, make sure they're sealed up nice and tight! And feel free to use a fork to press down the edges to give it a little decoration. Bake at 375F for about 20 to 25 minutes, and for the last 3 to 5 minutes we turned on the broiler to make the tops nice and golden brown.
We served it with a side of rice pilaf that came out of a box... At that point, I was sweating, drinking a glass of wine, and down for the count! But it was all worth it to see the reactions of everyone eating. Oh and God that cake was beautiful! It's almost 2am here, so I'll post that recipe tomorrow kiddos. I'll leave you with some extra photos of us enjoying the food, and Melissa getting her present from Roxanne! My best friend Norahs mother.
This has been your host,
Justin Francis Kane
Over and out!
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