A really satisfying, warm, cheesy, chicken-y dinner! The ingredient list may look long, but the cornbread comes together quickly and then I was able to just about get the sauce done while the cornbread cooked, and the chicken bit down while the sauce cooked, so it felt like it all went speedily enough. My pro-tip as far as the chicken goes is, get a whole bunch of chicken breasts, throw them plain into a crockpot for 3 hours on high/6 on low, shred all the meat, and put 1-2 breasts worth into tupperwares and into the freezer for this and SO MANY other meals when it’s handy to just pull out the chicken all ready to go.
Ingredients:
Cornbread:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup finely ground cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup canned corn (if you have the energy to grill your own corn on the cob, go that way, but it’s not for me)
- 4 ounces freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese
Enchilada sauce:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Chicken layer:
- 1 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 1/3 cup canned corn
- 1 4-ounce can diced green chiles
- 6 ounces freshly grated white cheddar cheese
- sliced green onions for topping
- fresh cilantro for topping (no thx)
- lime wedges for spritzing (not for me)
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Start making the cornmeal by whisking together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the butter, milk, and egg. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until just combined.
I used our Jimmy Red cornmeal from work, hence the color.
Fold in the corn and cheese, then pour into a 10 inch cast iron skillet.
Bake 15-18 minutes, or until just set. (I only own 9 and 12 inch skillets and went with the bigger one to avoid the risk of the ingredients overflowing a smaller pan – if you have to do the same, just check your cornbread at or before the shortest end of the timeframe to avoid burning.)
The corn kernels stick out quite dramatically with this cornmeal!
While the cornbread bakes, heat the olive oil a large saucepan over medium heat for the enchilada sauce. Add the flour and stir until golden brown, around 2 minutes.
Add all the remaining ingredients for the sauce and stir together, then bring to a simmer.
Reduce the heat to low and cook at least 5 more minutes, or until the cornbread is ready.
While the sauce cooks, stir together the chicken, green chiles, the remaining corn, and 2 ounces of the cheese.
When the sauce and cornbread are ready, poke holes all over the cornbread and drizzle 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce on/into the cornbread.
Stir another cup of the sauce into the chicken mixture.
Spread the chicken mixture over the cornbread.
Pour all the remaining sauce on top, then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
Bake 25-30 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Remove from the oven and top with green onions and cilantro, and serve with lime wedges for sprinkling.
Tastes better than it looks! 😉 And if you refrigerate leftovers, those will hold their shape better than the stuff straight out of the oven.
Chicken Tamale Pie
From How Sweet Eats.
Cornbread:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup finely ground cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup canned corn
- 4 ounces freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese
Enchilada sauce:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Chicken layer:
- 1 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 1/3 cup canned corn
- 1 4-ounce can diced green chiles
- 6 ounces freshly grated white cheddar cheese
- sliced green onions for topping
- fresh cilantro for topping
- lime wedges for spritzing
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Start making the cornmeal by whisking together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the butter, milk, and egg. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until just combined. Fold in the corn and cheese, then pour into a 10 inch cast iron skillet. Bake 15-18 minutes, or until just set.
While the cornbread bakes, heat the olive oil a large saucepan over medium heat for the enchilada sauce. Add the flour and stir until golden brown, around 2 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients for the sauce and stir together, then bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook at least 5 more minutes, or until the cornbread is ready.
While the sauce cooks, stir together the chicken, green chiles, the remaining corn, and 2 ounces of the cheese.
When the sauce and cornbread are ready, poke holes all over the cornbread and drizzle 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce on/into the cornbread. Stir another cup of the sauce into the chicken mixture. Spread the chicken mixture over the cornbread, then pour any remaining sauce on top. Top with the remaining cheese and bake 25-30 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Remove from the oven and top with green onions and cilantro, and serve with lime wedges for sprinkling.
Ingredients:
Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
That’s it! Store in the freezer – it firms up some, but never gets as hard as ice cream.
Filling:
While the fruit bakes, combine the flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt of the topping in a large bowl and stir together. Blend in the butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
Stir in the water until just combined – this is enough water it’s not the dry pie crust texture I was sort of picturing.
Set aside, then stir together the cinnamon sugar in a small dish.
Bake until golden, 25-30 minutes.
Serve still warm, ideally with vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients:
Use a rubber spatula to gently fold 12 ounces of the whipped topping into the pudding until completely mixed.
Arrange a single layer of graham crackers in the bottom of a 9×13″ pan.
Repeat grahams, pudding, curd. Top with a final layer of graham crackers, then spread the remaining whipped topping evenly on top.
Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving. The graham crackers will have become softened by the pudding, and will cut easily with a spatula/server. Top with berries, if desired, for serving.
Add the dry goods to the wet and whisk gently.
Gently turn the batter out into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
Stir up the strawberry jam with a spoon so there are no huge chunks, then drop little dollops all over the batter. Swirl in using a knife or skewer.
Arrange the strawberries on the top in rows, then sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the top.
Bake 40-45 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and it passes the toothpick test. Cool in pan.
Cut the room temperature butter into chunks and add to the dry goods mixture. beat together until the mixture becomes crumbly and resembles sand.
Add half the liquid mixture and beat until just incorporated, then repeat with the remaining liquid.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake 45 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Set the baked cake, in the pan, on a rack to cool for 15 minutes while you make the glaze.
Add the powdered sugar and stir. Sifting the powdered sugar first would definitely be a good idea!
Let sit 15 minutes, then stir some more to hopefully mix in any lumps.
Drain on paper towels, leaving the bacon grease in the pan behind. Cook the leeks over medium in the bacon grease until softened.
Combine the bacon, leeks, cheese, and sage in a bowl and stir in the egg to evenly coat and set aside. You can do this earlier, if you need to fiddle with timing.
Add the egg and a second cup of flour, and stir another 2 minutes.
Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough, beginning with 1 1/2 cups, up to 2 cups as necessary. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, around 10 minutes.
Cover, and let rest 10 minutes.
Divide the dough into 3 even portions and roll each out to a 16×4″ rectangle.
Spoon the bacon mixture over each rectangle and pinch closed into 3 chunky ropes.
The dough sticks together pretty well, and there’s usually a bit of un-filled dough at the end you can tear off as needed to patch any places it splits. I had a little bit of filling left over – that’s ok!
Place the ends of all 3 together, press together, and carefully braid to the far end, pressing that end together as well.
Lightly grease with spray grease and let rise until doubled, about an hour.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until browned.
If you had any leftover filling, toss it in the oven halfway through, to cook for 15 minutes.
Slice and serve warm, but if you’re not eating it all right away, put uneaten parts on a cooling rack so that the bottom doesn’t get soggy from steam.
Store wrapped in the fridge, and toast back up in the toaster oven as needed.
Ingredients:
In a small bowl/ramekin, combine combine 2 tablespoons oil, 1 tablespoon sage, 1 tablespoon rosemary, and 2 teaspoons thyme; set aside. In another small bowl, stir together 4 teaspoons salt, and the pepper; set aside.
Pat the chicken dry with paper towel and gently loosen the skin, by sticking your hand or an upside-down spoon under the skin and moving it around to detach the connective bits but without tearing up the skin. Rub the oil mixture both on and under the skin, all over the chicken. Sprinkle the salt mixture all over the top, under the skin, and in the cavity of the chicken. Tie the legs with kitchen twine. Place on a wire rack on a baking sheet and refrigerate overnight uncovered.
When ready to cook, take out the chicken and let stand at room temp. Drain the beans. In a small pan, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil. Cook the leek and minced garlic until softened, 3-4 minutes. (In as small a pan as I used, where it wasn’t all a single layer, it took several more minutes.)
Transfer the cooked leeks to a crockpot. Add the drained beans, the broth, bay leaf, and remaining teaspoons of sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Stir everything together, then place the chicken on top. Place the two heads of garlic alongside the chicken, where they can be in the liquid too.
Cover, and turn on high heat. Cook for 4 hours.
At 4 hours, carefully remove the chicken – it will most likely be fall-apart tender. Stir the drained tomatoes, the vinegar, and as much of the remaining 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt as desired into the liquid with the beans.
Serve with crusty bread to soak up some of the liquid, and squeeze some of the garlic cloves out of the heads out on each plate as well.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silpat/parchment/foil, and lightly grease before setting aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce, and honey for the tofu, then set aside.
Spread on the other half of the baking sheet. Bake for 30-35 minutes, flipping once halfway through to make sure everything crisps up evenly. The start of the baking time is a good time to get some rice water heating on the stove!
While the tofu and broccoli bake, prepare the sauce. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, water, and vinegar. Place the cornstarch in a small dish and stir in 2-3 tablespoons of the soy/oil/water/vinegar mixture, stirring until no clumps of cornstarch remain.
Pour the cornstarch mixture back into the pot with the rest of the sauce ingredients. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently, and cook until thickened.
When everything’s ready, serve the tofu and broccoli over rice, drizzled in a bit of the sauce and with the scallions and sesame seeds (if desired) sprinkled on top.
Stir in the remaining ingredients without kneading until well mixed.
Cover, not airtight, and allow to rest until it rises and collapses, about 2 hours. Use immediately or refrigerate and use over the next week.
Dust the piece with more flour and shape into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough from the top to the bottom, then rotate, repeating on all four sides. Allow to rest on a cornmeal or parchment covered peel for 1 hour (40 minutes if not refrigerated).
Cool completely on a rack before slicing and eating.
