Posted on 12/11/2014 4:15:03 PM PST by Jamestown1630
During my years of lurking, I always enjoyed the Thanksgiving Cooking thread; but I missed most of it this year.
I've got a ? for the Freepers who like to cook and entertain: What do you take to an office party, where the only warm-up options are microwave and sterno-steam-tray?
My crew favors my chicken and dumplings, which work out very well warmed up in a crock pot. But I've done it for years, and it's a little labor-intensive for me this year. I want to do something different, and my other best dishes are 'crusty' things - chicken pot pie, big quiches, or deep-fried stuff - which degrade in the warm-up methods at my disposal.
Does anyone have a favorite recipe for this kind of big party, that works well when warmed-over without a real oven? (I'm feeding about 25 people.)
Hopefully awaiting responses, because I've seen some really good recipes from FR in the past :-)
-JT
This is more of an hors d’ouvre, but everyone loves it and it’s simple. Soften Philly cream cheese (the larger rectangle - think it’s 8 oz)
spread on a platter
spread about 3/4-1 lb of the little shrimp (I usually rinse my shrimp and then let drain a little) on top of the cheese
add cocktail sauce (I like Crosse & Blackwells) on top of the shrimp and kinda smooth it over the shrimp so it’s covered.
Serve with crackers (I like Triscuits with this particular dish).
If not for this party, maybe you could use this for another party.
Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients:
•1 Chicken - shredded
•1 bag of frozen organic mixed vegetables
•1/3 cup butter
•1/3 cup all-purpose flour
•2/3 cup milk
•2 cups chicken stock
•1.5 teaspoon salt
•1/2 teaspoon black pepper
•1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tsp fresh thyme
•1 tsp onion powder
•1 tsp garlic powder
•Biscuit Topping Ingredients
•1.5 cups self rising flour
•1.5 cups buttermilk
•1.5 sticks of butter, melted
Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and grease a 9 x 13 pan.
2.In a large bowl, combine chicken, veggies, spices
3.In a large saute pan, melt butter over med low heat and whisk in flour stirring constantly for 1 minute.
4.Slowly whisk in chicken stock and milk, stirring until the sauce is thickened - about 3-4 minutes.
5.Pour sauce over chicken and vegetables and taste to make sure you don’t want to add more seasonings.
6.Pour chicken and vegetables into 9 x 13 baking dish.
7.Combine flour, butter and buttermilk in a separate bowl. This will make a lose batter. Pour over chicken and veggies.
8.Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Where’s the Christmas Drinking thread?
*hik*
Stuffing
Combination in any measurement you can stomach, but the more the merrier.
Croutons
Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled
Onions and celery chopped
apples, chopped
dried cherries and cranberries
crumbled chestnuts (actual chestnuts, baked, peeled, and crumbled)
some parsley
lots and lots of sage
thyme
turkey stock (or chicken)
Salt & pepper
Put all together in a roasting pan. Make clumps of stuffing so that it can form a ball that isn’t too wet in your hand. You can always add more stock).
Bake at 375 degrees until done.
For the gravy, the trick’s in the roux. Add flour and turkey fat or butter and stir and stir until the roux’s the color of chestnuts or acorns. Then add stock. Salt and pepper to taste.
You can’t buy stuffing like this anywhere.
I may be roasting a goose—bearing in mind that a goose is much harder to prepare than a turkey or a chicken.
The old cocktail meatballs. That’s a classic and people like ‘em.
I miss the cooking threads! What happened to them? I was a frequent poster and reader.
One of my favorites is a whiskey, brown sugar glazed ham.
A store bought spiral ham, baked according to instructions and then glazed. Jameson Irish whiskey, dark brown sugar and a pat of butter and simmer for about 2 minutes after it starts to bubble. I sometimes add a bit of chicken broth, if needed. It also works really well as a glaze for bacon meatloaf.
Pumpkin cheesecake is a real pleaser too this time of year. I made one the other night that was amazing.
“I always enjoyed the Thanksgiving Cooking thread; but I missed most of it this year.”
I don’t think there was one this year; I watched for it. I did bookmark some of the previous years’ threads, though.
Ok thanks sooo much! This is great!
A hugely popular favorite in the southwest are Christmas tamales. If you can find a quality source. I don’t recommend making them yourself because they are an art form.
Once made, wrapped in the corn husks and steamed, they can be wrapped in parchment and put in a sterno-steam-tray. They are great right out of the husk, and you can provide warmed red and green enchilada sauce for anyone who wants to pour it on top.
However, for 25 people you are going to need three or more large trays. People do tend to hog on them.
Beef, pork, chicken, it is a very versatile treat.
Just ping me...take your time...
Chinese noodles with cheese, cabbage salad and chicken-pineapple stir fry.
Have you got as recipe for sausage balls, the ones made with bisquick, cheddar cheese, and spicy sausage, with a few dashes of tabasco?
Ham and lemon meringue pie. Oh, and something to put gravy on. Lots of gravy.
Granny’s Chicken Pie
(ahem)
I was raised by an old Granny who was born in 1890, and died in 1984. She was a GREAT cook. She used to make this chicken pie that was to DIE for - literally: it was a “heart-attack” waiting to happen.
She had run her own life and household until the age of 93, always ready and “up” for anything. But she began to fail in the summer of 1983, and I nursed her at home; because that’s the way we did things back then.
By the late autumn, she was losing her mind, moving in and out of memory/awareness.
My brother and I were together, taking care of her, one day; when Brother realized that we had never asked her for the Chicken Pie recipe! So, he went to sit with her, and asked her, “Granny, how do you make the chicken pie?”
And she said, “Well, first you get a chicken, and you take all the feathers off”.
And that was all we got, before she ‘faded’; and went back to sleep. She was remembering how to make a chicken pie, back when you butchered a chicken, and processed it yourself.
Over the years (with the help of ‘Fannie Farmer’ and ‘Joy of Cooking’), we have almost re-created it, with some modern updates; and here it is (though it will NEVER be the same):
Granny’s Chicken Pie
(Use approximately 3-1/2 lbs. chicken parts, thighs and breasts, or whatever you prefer; I personally like mostly dark meat - more flavorful.)
Cover chicken in water (about 12 cups) in a large stock pot and stew until tender. Remove chicken meat from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces.
Cook the broth down to about 4 cups.
Skim fat from broth and strain the broth. (Save schmaltz and freeze it, for use in Chicken Dumplings :-)
While chicken is stewing, make the crust:
(The secret to this is keeping flour and butter very cold, while you work with it):
Mix together:
2 Cups Flour
½ tsp. Cream of Tartar, opt. (I never use this)
½ tsp. Salt
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
Dice ½ cup (1 stick) COLD butter into small pieces. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into the flour mixture.
(Pie crust can also be mixed in a food processor, but the old way gives a nicer crust; we never use the food processor; this is Hubby’s job, while he’s watching TV.)
Quickly stir 2/3 Cup COLD milk into flour and mix until all flour is moistened. Knead lightly into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
Make the Sauce:
Reduce stock to to 3 or 3-1/2 Cups.
Melt in saucepan: 8 tablespoons Butter and stir in 8 tablespoons all purpose flour.
Cook 2 minutes, then slowly add stock, stirring constantly.
Add 1 to 1-1/2 C. Heavy Cream, ½ tsp. black pepper, and salt to taste.
Cook 5 minutes until thickened.
Mix chicken with Sauce; add 1 to 2 cups thawed frozen peas or peas/carrots mix, and ½ medium onion diced VERY finely . Pour mixture into greased oblong pan (metal is best).
Roll out crust between two layers of wax paper and place over chicken (Doesn’t have to fit perfectly; this is a rustic pie; make sure some edges fall down into that fatty sauce, and get very crisp!)
Bake at 400 or 425 degrees until Bubbly and Golden – 20 to 30 minutes. (Watch that the crust doesn’t burn.)
Sometimes, you have to regulate for the liquidity you want in the sauce. Experiment!
My Best,
JT
You brought back some old grandmother memories for me.
It’s important to keep all the ingredients for the crust very cold. Wrap the dough up and put it in the refrigerator before you roll out the crust. It’s a good idea to put the rolling pin in the fridge too. Pie crust is not like bread. If you work it a lot, it does not get more flaky.
I live in a little ‘barrio” and I see the ladies buying stuff for tamales at holiday times. The little ethnic store across the street sells everything one needs - corn husks, pots for steaming, masa, etc.
Can you give us a recipe? I like to make things by hand.
=JT
Dang; I thought I had all the COLD things down; but I never thought about the rolling pin!
Thank You!
-JT
Well, I’m pretty much done with my drinking tonight.
G’Nite!
-JT
I would love to be able to make good tamales myself, but with some people having made them every Christmas for 20 years, it’s really no contest.
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