Greek Chicken with Tzatziki and Homemade Pita

Long-time readers of this blog will recall that I am an impulse baker. I bake on a whim all the time. You'll recall that I made chicken pot pie risotto earlier this week. I ended up with leftover chicken. I had planned to make some greek-inspired chickpea cakes, but, I decided, chickpeas will keep just fine in their cans. The chicken will not keep as long. So, why not make greek-inspired chicken instead? 

I'm not sure what made me think "pita," but I decided yesterday that I would make them today. That's advanced notice for the impulse baker. I've never made them before, but I will definitely be making them again.

Notes: I tweaked this recipe for the pita and this recipe for the tzatziki sauce.

So, making bread from scratch. It can be intimidating, but that shouldn't stop you. You just need planning and patience. These tasted so fresh and delicious, it was well worth the work!

A lot of the kneading is about feel. When you first start kneading, the bread will feel loose and almost too soft. That's because the gluten hasn't developed yet. Just keep going, sprinkling more flour on the bread and your hands if it starts to stick. As you knead, the gluten will develop and the dough will start to feel springier and denser. 

When you're rolling out the pita, be careful not to sprinkle too much flour on it. Try to flour the rolling pin. I got a little too much flour on mine and it was stuck on there after my pitas were cooked. 

You can see the too much flour here, but also, look at that good puff!

It's likely you will have leftover pita. Don't worry, you can keep them in the fridge. Let them cool completely and put them in a zip top bag, separated by pieces of wax paper. Then you can heat them up for a few minutes in the oven.

English cucumbers work best for the tzatziki sauce because they're seedless and the skin is thinner and less bitter. But, if you don't have them, don't go buy one just for this. Use a regular cucumber, but peel it first. 

I would make the tzatziki first and get it out of the way. If you're doing all this in one go, make sure you have your chicken ingredients all prepped and ready to go before you start rolling and cooking the pita. You'll probably have to cook some pita while you roll out the others (if you're like me and don't have enough counter space for 8 pitas). Start the chicken when you're about halfway through the pitas.

I don't have a picture of the whole assembled pita with the chicken. The pita was kind of the star of the show. It all turned out really well.

Ingredients:

For the pita:

1 packet of yeast

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 cup lukewarm water

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for the bowl

3 cups of flour plus more for dusting

For tzatziki:

1 cup of greek yogurt

1/2 English cucumber (see notes)

1 garlic clove

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper for seasoning

For chicken:

2 cups shredded cooked chicken (approx)

1 lemon

3 tablespoons of olive oil

4-5 cloves garlic

3-4 springs of fresh oregano

Diced fresh tomatoes, sliced onion, sliced cucumber for serving

Directions for pita: In a large mixing bowl, mix the water, sugar, and yeast together until the yeast and sugar dissolve (it's OK if there are some little lumps left). Allow it to sit uncovered in a warm spot in your kitchen until it's bubbly and frothy (about 15-20 minutes). 

Stir in the olive oil, salt, and flour. The dough should start out looking sort of rough and shaggy. If it's really sticky and wet, sprinkle in some more flour. Knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together and starts to look a little smoother. Then turn it out on a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and springs back when you poke it. Wipe out the dough bowl with a paper towel and coat bowl with olive oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel, and allow it to rise until it's doubled in size, about an hour.

When the dough has risen, deflate it and shape it back into a ball. Turn it out on a floured surface and divide it into 8 pieces. Let them sit under a clean kitchen towel for 10 minutes. Roll the pieces out into circles, about 8 inches or so in diameter (see notes).

Heat a large skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. To check and see if it's hot, flick a drop or two of water in the pan. If it beads up and sizzles immediately, you skillet is hot. Drizzle the pan with olive oil and wipe the excess away. Put a pita circle in the pan. It will start to puff and bubble after about 45 seconds. Flip it over with a big spatula (you should see some little brown spots on the side that was touching the pan). Cook for about another minute. Put your finished pita on baking sheet lined with a clean kitchen towel. Cover the finished pita with a towel while you make the rest. 

Directions for tzatziki: Grate the cucumber on the small holes of the box grater into a strainer lined with a paper towels or cheese cloth. Squeeze the water out and leave in the strainer. 

Add the yogurt, salt, pepper, and olive oil to a small mixing bowl. Grate the garlic with a microplane or zester straight into the bowl. Add in the cucumber and stir well to combine everything. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

Directions for chicken: Mince garlic and oregano. Zest the lemon and cut it in half. Heat a skillet on medium and add olive oil. Add garlic to the pan and cook for a few minutes. Add oregano and lemon zest and cook for another minute or two. Squeeze half the lemon into the oil mixture and then add the chicken. Cook for about 10-15 minutes until the chicken is heated and some of the liquid in the pan evaporates. Turn off the heat and finish by squeezing the other half of the lemon over the chicken.

To serve: Speak some tzatziki sauce on one of the pitas. Top with chicken and add whatever toppings you like. Enjoy!

My Favorite Buttermilk Biscuits + Pepper Fried Egg and Bacon Breakfast Sandwich

After many attempts at making buttermilk biscuits, I have perfected my recipe. Fluffy on the inside and golden brown on the outside---they're perfect for biscuits and gravy or a pepper fried egg and bacon breakfast sandwich!

Notes: I do one thing that all the biscuit recipes will tell you not to do: knead. Everyone says it will make your biscuits tough. But every Southern lady I've ever known kneads her biscuits. Once I started kneading, I finally got the consistency I was looking for. My biscuits also starting rising correctly. As long as you don't knead them like bread, it won't make them tough.

I think a pastry blender is incredibly helpful, so if you plan on making these a lot, I would invest in one. You can also use a dinner fork, but it will take you a little longer.

This is also my favorite way to make a fried egg. The whites are fully cooked, the bottom is a little brown and crispy, and the yolk is still runny. If you don't like your yolk runny, poke it before you flip it over.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, cold
1 stick butter, cold

For the sandwich:
1 egg
1-2 strips of bacon
Pepper
Salt
Cheese of your choosing (optional)

Directions:

Heat the oven to 400. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut the cold butter into small cubes. Work the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or a fork until the butter is the size of large peas.

Stir in the buttermilk. Once the dough comes together, knead it in the bowl for just a minute. Pat the dough out on to a floured service. Pat it into a circle that's about a 1/2 inch thick. Use a round cookie cutter (or an empty aluminum can) and cut out rounds. When you work your way through the circle, gather the scraps and reshape into a ball. Pat the dough out again and repeat until you use up all the dough (should make about 8-10 biscuits).

Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown.

While the biscuits are cooling, heat a skillet on medium. Cook the bacon. When the strips are done, put them on a plate lined with paper towel. Crack your egg right into the bacon grease. Sprinkle a liberal amount of pepper on the top and season with a little salt. Cook the egg on one side until the edges are a little crisp and brown and the whites are mostly set. Gently flip it over and turn the heat off. Let is sit for about 20 seconds. If you want cheese, lay it on top of the egg now.

Slice open a biscuit. Slide the egg from the skillet onto one of the halves. Top with bacon and make a sandwich. Enjoy!

Individual Veggie Pot Pies

Happy New Year, food lovers! I hope everyone had a great holiday. It's time to start 2015 off with some new recipes.

Holidays are great, but they usually mean LOTS of heavy food. After all the meat, carbs, and sweets, your body needs some serious nutrition. Small portions + veggies fits that bill.

Notes: This recipe can act as a pantry staple if you either (a) make your own pie crust from scratch or (b) keep pre-made crusts on hand. I should have just made the dough from scratch, but I bought some refrigerated pie crusts before we left town for Christmas.

I love Fordhook lima beans and I can always find them in my freezer section, so I added those to my pies. Feel free to swap these out for something else if you're not a fan of limas.

If you don't have ramekins, you can just make a regular-sized pie in a 9-inch pie dish. My ramekins are medium-sized, so this recipe made 4 pies. If you have smaller ramekins, it will make 6.

You'll note that the crust on these pot pies are rather small. That's because I made the mistake of trimming the crust rather than folding it. The crust will shrink when it bakes, so be sure to keep it slightly larger than the ramekins. Lesson learned!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup (about 5 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1 can low sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon dried Italian herb blend (or just parsley)
1/2 bag of mixed frozen vegetables
1/2 bag of frozen lima beans
1 box of refrigerated pie crusts (I used Pillsbury)
Salt
Pepper

Directions: Heat oven to 375.

Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour until a smooth paste forms. Whisk in chicken broth and then whisk in milk. Season with salt, pepper, and herb blend. Allow the mixture to thicken.

Once the mixture thickens, add in frozen veggies. Make sure everything heats through. Turn off heat and set aside while you prep the ramekins.

Put ramekins on a baking sheet. Unroll the pie crusts on a floured surface and roll them out just a little with a rolling pin. Flip over one of the ramekins onto the pie crust. Using a pairing knife, cut out a circle of pie crust that's about an inch wider than the lip of the ramekin. Repeat with the other crust until you have one circle of dough for each ramekin. You can smoosh (technical term) together and roll out the scraps if you need more circles.

Divide the vegetable mixture equally among the ramekins. Put the dough circles on top of each ramekin and pinch the dough around the edge to "seal" the pie. Bake for 30 minutes until the crusts are golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes, serve, and enjoy!

Adventures in Dough, Part Five: Homemade Biscuits and Gravy

Scott's grandmother (Maw Maw) was a traditional Southern cook. She had a large repitore of Southern classics and, depending on which grandchild you ask, a different one will be the favorite: fried chicken, banana cake, greens beans. For Scott, it was her biscuits and gravy.

Try as I might, I have never been able to recreate her recipe. I have it in a family cookbook my mother-in-law gave me. But, as it is with most Southern cooks, Maw Maw had brand loyalty. She made her biscuits always with Red Band self-rising flour, which you can only find in certain places in North Carolina. Different ingredients yield different results. And I have come to believe that only Maw Maw's hands could have produced the legendary food she made.

So while I can't recreate her biscuits and gravy, I can make them my own way. I've been making them for years, but I usually use frozen biscuits. Not this time!

Notes: As with most Southern dishes, time and measurements are never exact. A lot of these ingredients are approximate and my directions will involve descriptions of how things should look or feel.

Biscuits take some practice, so if yours don't quite turn out right the first time, don't worry. Getting the dough just right requires experience with how the dough feels and there's no way to get that unless you make it a few times.

The important thing is to not work the dough too much. You don't want to knead it or roll it like bread. The dough will be sticky, so have some extra flour around to sprinkle over the top of the dough and on your hands.

Remember, Maw Maw made her biscuits with her hands and utensils that most people have around their kitchen. No need for fancy tools!

As for the bacon and gravy, just remember: don't rush the bacon! Flip it sparingly to start with and then flip it more once it starts to get done. Bacon cooks as its own speed, so there's no neat time table for when it will be done. Resist the urge to turn the heat up or else you'll have burnt bacon.

When you make your roux for the gravy, you want equal parts bacon fat and flour, so if it looks like you have more fat than 2-3 tablespoons, add more flour. If you want to make a vegetarian gravy (Maw Maw would disapprove, but I won't judge) just swap butter for bacon grease.

Also, gravy needs LOTS of seasoning. You'll need at least 3/4 tablespoon of salt and more cracked pepper than you think you'll need. The best thing to do is season it and then it taste it. If it still tastes like flour, add more salt and pepper. I usually use what seems like a ridiculous amount of pepper and then when I taste it, it still needs more!

Biscuits ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick of butter (approx. 8 tablespoons), cold right out of the fridge
1/2-2/3 cup of milk
1 egg

Gravy ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons of flour
3/4 (approx.) cup milk
4-6 slices of bacon
Kosher salt
Pepper

Directions: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a large skillet on medium low. Immediately add bacon to the pan. Wait until it starts to sizzle, then flip it over. You only need to flip it occasionally when it first starts to cook. You'll be making the biscuits at the same time, so just be sure to keep checking on the bacon. Once little brown flecks start to develop on the strips, you'll need to turn it more often. The bacon will be done when it shrinks, turns brick red, and starts to develop tiny white bubbles that almost look like foam on top of it. The whole process should take about 30 minutes.

While your bacon is cooking, gather the biscuit ingredients. Add the 2 cups of flour, salt, and baking powder to a large bowl and stir them together. Beat the egg into a small bowl and have your milk ready in a measuring cup. Cut the butter into small cubes and add it to the dry ingredients. Using a pasty blender (better -- your hands!) work the butter into the flour. The pieces of butter should be about the size small peas and the flour should feel slightly damp when you're finished.

Make a well in the center of the butter/flour mixture. Add in the egg and about half of the milk. Using your hand, stir the sides of the well into the wet center. Keep stirring until it starts to form a dough mass. If it seems too dry, add the rest of your milk. Then turn the dough mass around in the bowl a few times to give it some shape.

Dump the dough out on to a floured surface and mound it up with your hands. Dust flour on the outside of the dough and on to your hands. Press the dough out until it's about 3/4 of an inch thick (no rolling pin!). Flip it over once or twice to make sure it doesn't stick. Dust with more flour if needed.

Use a floured biscuit cutter (or, if you're me, a floured glass) to cut rounds out of the dough (you should get about 4 rounds our of the first press). Lay the rounds on a foil or parchment lined baking sheet. Gather the scraps up into a ball, press them out again and you should two more rounds out of the second press.

Bake the biscuits for 15-17 minutes at 400 degrees.

While the biscuits are baking, finish up the bacon and make the gravy. When the bacon is done, lay it on a paper towel to drain. Add 2-3 tablespoons of flour to the bacon grease and whisk it together (in other words, make a roux). Whisk constantly for about 30 seconds (the finished roux should look like a wet paste). While whisking, pour in the milk. The gravy should start out looking a little thin, but once it cooks, it will thicken. Add salt and pepper. Wait a few seconds and give it a taste. Adjust the seasoning accordingly. Turn the heat to low and stir until the biscuits are done.

Pour the gravy on top of your biscuits, add bacon, and enjoy!

Adventures in Dough Part Four and VTMK: Spelt Oat Bread

I'm trying to whittle down the number of items I buy at the store. If there's something I can reasonably do at home that doesn't require me to become a chemist or a carpenter, I'm opting to do it. In light of that, I decided homemade bread is a good place to start.

Making bread can be time-consuming. I suppose it's made easier if you have a bread maker. But I have an aversion to extra kitchen gadgets, especially those only designed to do one thing. Those little tubes designed to remove garlic skins? Waste of material resources: it adds an extra step to your cooking and (especially if you are sans dishwasher) an extra thing to clean. I don't know if a bread machine fits into the same category, but I do know you make tasty bread without one.

Notes: This bread is delicious. It was easy to make; it took me maybe an hour and half. A very simple weekend project.

The bread is dense and crumbly. It makes nice toast, but it's not as great for sandwiches, unless you toast it beforehand. It would work better sliced thin, but my bread knife isn't sharp enough for that.

When it says "prepare the loaf pan," take it seriously. I didn't butter mine enough and had some trouble freeing the bread. You could, of course, use cooking spray. 

Speaking of non-dairy items, not only is this a new adventure in dough, it's also the inaugural segment of VTMK, which stands for Vegan, To My Knowledge. I'm not vegan and I'm totally not an expert on what things are vegan and what things are not. But I know a lot of lovely people who are vegans or who are incorporating more vegan dishes into their diets. So, when I make a dish that I suspect to be vegan, I will flag it. My favorite vegans that know way more about this than I do can double check. If you're looking for vegan recipes, by the way, check out my friend Missy's lovely site: Vegan-in!

If you plan to use it like you would a regular loaf of bread, I recommend slicing it once it's cool all the way and storing the slices in a large food storage bag. If you keep the loaf whole in the fridge, it becomes more difficult to slice and will more likely fall apart on you.

Ingredients (adapted only slightly from this recipe by Heidi Swanson):
1 1/4 cups of warm water (between 105-115 degree F)
2 teaspoons of dry active yeast (1 packet)
1 tablespoon of honey (make sure it's room temperature)
2 cups spelt four
1 cup rolled oats (not instant or steel cut)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

Directions:

First, you'll need to bloom your yeast. Pour your warm water into medium-ish bowl. Stir in the yeast and the honey.

Starts out looking like cloudy water

Let it sit for 10 minutes until it starts to look like more foamy and voluminous.

Looks a little more puffy and opaque

While your yeast blooms, add your flour, salt, and oats to a bigger bowl and mix well.

Once the yeast blooms, add the wet mix into the dry and form a dough ball. Prepare a loaf pan with cooking spray (or butter if you're not making the vegan version). Turn the dough ball out into the loaf pan.

Soon-to-be bread!

 Cover it with a damp paper towel and let it rise for 30 minutes. It will rise to the point where it fills up the loaf pan.

Post-bread nap

Heat the oven to 350 with the rack in the middle. Bake it for 35-40 minutes. When it's done, turn it out on to a rack to let it cool (if you leave it in the pan, it will steam and get soggy).

Once it's cool, slice it up and enjoy!

Adventures in Dough, Part 3: Pork Empanadas

Remember when I said I was trying to cut back on meat? Well, that's true, but not for this particular dish.

There was an empanada joint in Urbana that we used to frequent in graduate school. Warm, toasty savory hand pies were perfect on those chilly days (which, in Urbana, were plentiful). When I saw this recipe from Smitten Kitchen for empanada dough, I knew what my next baking challenge would be.

I intended to make them with beef, but our local grocery store had small pork roasts on sale by one get one free. I have trouble passing up that kind of a deal.

My summer fling with my slow cooker continues, so I decided that nothing would be better than shredded pork empanadas.

Notes: The meat-free efforts should have continued. Although I was happy with this dish overall, I was unhappy with the meat filling. I wanted something much saucier than what I got. The pork was pretty sad as well. It only needed three hours in the slow cooker, but I set it for four. It was definitely overdone and under-seasoned. I'm leaving the seasonings I used as is and I'll let you play with the spice level. Or change the filling entirely. I think I will.

This batch was supposed to make 24 empanadas. I only got 16 out of my batch. 8 was plenty for the two of us and we had some leftover. I froze the other 8 for Scott to eat later. He liked the filling better than I did.

Ingredients:
For the filling and wet rub:
2 small pork loin roasts (2 lbs of pork total)
1 small onion
6 garlic cloves
1/2 bag of frozen corn
1/2 bag of dried black beans, pre-soaked
1 chipotle pepper plus 1 tablespoon of adobo sauce
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon honey
1 cup water
Salt
Pepper

For the dough (altered slightly from this recipe):
4 1/2 cups of flour (3 1/2 white, 1 wheat)
2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed and cold
3 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs (plus one for egg wash)
3/4 cup of ice water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Start your filling first. Place your pork roasts in the slow cooker.

Mah pork babies

Get your spices together for your wet rub.

Add the honey, mustard, cumin, chili powder, and paprika to a small bowl and stir it until you end up with a paste.

Rub your pork roasts with the paste so that they are both well-coated.

Add one cup of water to your slow cooker. Add your chipotle pepper and adobo sauce to the water. Add onions and garlic. Stir and set for 3 hours on high.

While the meat is cooking, make your empanada dough.

Add your flour and salt to a large bowl. Sprinkle your cold butter on top and start working it into the flour with your pastry blender (or your hands).

Blend until the mixture has the look of coarse corn meal and the consistency of damp sand.

Mix the wet ingredients together and then add them to the flour/butter mixture. Stir until the dough comes together.

Knead it once or twice in the bowl, turn it out on a floured surface. Divide the dough in half and shape it into flat rectangles.

One, not so much a rectangle

Chill the dough for least an hour and up to six.

When the filling is an hour away from being finished, shred the pork and add in the black beans and corn. Return to the slow cooker to finish.

Mine is more cubed than shredded

Once the dough is chilled and the filling is done, take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into eight equal pieces. Roll each one out into a 5 inch round.

Round-ish

Add three tablespoons of filling in the center of the round.

Wet the edge of the round with water (just wet your finger and trace the edge of the dough), fold it in half and crimp the edges closed with a fork.

Beat 1 egg with one tablespoon of water. Brush the egg wash over the empanadas.

Place the oven racks in the bottom third and top third of the oven. Bake the empanadas at 400 for 20 minutes, 10 minutes on the bottom and 10 minutes on the top.

Serve hot and enjoy!

Adventures in Dough Part 2: Chicken Pot Pie

Adventures in Dough Part 1 was homemade pizza. After that was a success, I decided it was time to conquer an even bigger baking fear: pie crust! 

Cue the dramatic music because this post is gonna be epic. It's also long, so strap in.

Again, I turned to Smitten Kitchen for this recipe. You read correctly: all butter, no fancy equipment, no fear.

So which pie to make? In my house, there is only one answer. Scott's all-time favorite: chicken pot pie.

I've been making chicken pot pie for a long time, but I've been relying on store-bought crust and frozen mixed vegetables. Those days are over, my friends. I made my own pie crust and I'm never looking back. You can't imagine the flavor difference.

Notes: This was the best chicken pie I have ever tasted, so there is nothing I would change about it.

I highly recommend this post (again by Smitten Kitchen) on rolling out your dough. This is flaky pie crust, which means sticky dough with lots of butter. The key? LOTS of flour and patience.

You can make this crust when you have the time and freeze it until you're ready to use it. Just make sure you defrost it in the refrigerator for a full 24 hours.

I used dark meat for the chicken (Scott's favorite), but you can use breast meat if you want. If you need a time saver, the rotisserie chickens from the grocery store are always available.

Feel free to use whatever veggies you like. I used what looked good at the store that day.

You and me, we're gonna do this together, OK? Don't fear the crust.

Ingredients:

For the crust (this recipe is straight from Smitten Kitchen's, linked above):
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cold tap water with ice cubes in it
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter

For the pot pie:
2 cups cooked and shredded chicken
2 large carrots
1/3 of a bunch of asparagus (about 6 or 7 stalks)
1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 leek, chopped (a small onion would work great too)
10 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped and chopped
1/3 cup of butter
1/2 cup of milk
1 3/4 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup flour
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

Let's start with the crust! Just remember cold ingredients = good crust.

Your butter should be cold, straight from the fridge. It needs to be in small cubes. I cut mine up early in the morning and put in back in the fridge to chill down so that it was really cold when I wanted it.

Ice, ice, butter

Add your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt) to a big bowl and whisk them together. Drop the butter on top and start cutting the butter into the dry mixture. I have a handy pastry blender that makes this easier, but you could use two knives (dragging them through the butter and flour in opposite directions) or just use your hands (I've totally done that before when making biscuits. Worked like a charm).

Not quite done

Keep blending the butter and flour together until the butter chunks are about the size of small peas. You don't want them to disappear: little chunks of butter = delicious flakiness. The mixture will look more like the color of cornmeal than flour.

Take your cold water and add a little at a time to the butter/flour mix. Use a rubber spatula (or a spoon) to pull the batter together.

Like so

The dough will become sticky and will start to look like one mass rather than half dough/half flour. Once you've used up your water, knead the dough in the bowl just a tiny bit so that it's in a ball.

Divide your ball into two equal-sized halves. Put each half on a piece of plastic wrap.

Lookin' good!

Use the plastic wrap to help you shape the balls into discs (this will help your rolling process later). Put them in the fridge for AT LEAST one hour, preferably more. Remember: cold = good.

Still with me? OK, let's take a break for the pie filling.

Now is a good time to chop your veggies. I diced the carrots and cut the asparagus on a bias.

Garlic and leeks

I cleaned my leeks by cutting them into rings, separating them, and dunking them into a big bowl of cold water. All the sand sinks to the bottom. Now chop those up, too.

I wanted to do a quick saute on my veggies because they were all raw. If you cut them up small enough, you can probably skip this step because they'll cook inside the pie in the oven.

Butter in the pan, saute over medium for 3-5 minutes. No biggie.

Now, you can't have chicken pie without the roux. So, melt your 1/3 cup of butter into a 2-quart (or larger) pot.

Once the butter has melted, whisk in your flour and you'll end up with a thick, gravy-looking concoction that looks like this:

Let the roux bubble for just a minute. Then pour in your chicken stock (while whisking) and your milk (while whisking). Add your chopped thyme leaves, season with salt and pepper, and you'll get a thin, gravy-looking concoction that looks like this:

Not quite finished

Let that thicken up until it's back to the consistency of gravy. Then add in your cooked chicken and your cooked veggies.

What does a filling have to do to get inside a pie around here?

Yay! Filling accomplished. Turn the heat off and just let the filling stand by until you're ready to put it in the pie. Now would be a good time to preheat your oven to 375.

OK, deep breath. It's back to the pie crust. We can do this!

Your pie crust is chilling the fridge. Before you get it out, get your rolling pin, a butter knife, and as much flour as you can get your hands on. Pick a flat surface in your kitchen (even your table will do -- that's what I did) with lots of room and FLOUR THE LIVING HECK OUT OF IT! Got your rolling pin? FLOUR THAT TOO!

OK. Take one of your dough discs out of the fridge and put in on your floured surface. Dust some flour on top of it (yes, you need that much flour).

I am not an expert on rolling dough. I say, if you're not a pro, just do what works. You want the pie crust flat, 12-inches in diameter, and even in thickness. I got mine that way by starting in the middle of the dough and rolling the pin north, south, east, and west. Then, I picked up the dough, turned it about a quarter turn, and repeated the same process. If it sticks a little when you try to turn it, use your butter knife to help you get it unstuck.

Not done yet!

If you're like me and you (a) have a hot kitchen and (b) aren't very patient, you will likely overwork your dough. It will start to get droopy and sticky. If you are like me, at this point you will (a) panic and (b) put your dough on a sheet tray in the freezer for a few minutes.

Deep breaths, deep breaths

It's no biggie. You want the dough to be cold, right? It's not cooperating because it's too hot, right? So, let it (and you) chill out for a few minutes. Everything will be right as rain.

When you've got your dough flat, even, and 12 inches in diameter, congratulations! You have your bottom pie crust!

OK, now take dough disc number two out, make sure you're adequately floured, and repeat your rolling process with your crust top.

Once it's ready to go, add your pie filling.

So close to deliciousness

Now drape your top crust over it and crimp the edges closed.

One last step: gotta let out that steam, so cut some small slits in the top crust.

Cue the music from Psycho

Bake your beautiful creation at 375 for 45 minutes. Wait impatiently.

And then...

TA-DA!!!

Let it stand for about 10 minutes (if you can possibly wait that long) and then enjoy the greatest chicken pot pie you will ever taste.

Sorry Moravian ladies, but this is the real deal

Homemade Pizza

Happy 4th everyone! It's been awhile since I've put up a recipe. We've been traveling for the past two weeks. We're home now, so it's back to the kitchen for me!

Smitten Kitchen has inspired me to do many things. One of the biggest is making my own dough. I admit; I am kind of baking-phobic. So much measuring! So many possibilities for things to go wrong! But, there's no time like the present to conquer one's cooking fears. In light of that, I decided to try my hand at homemade pizza.

And it wasn't scary at all.

One of the best things about Smitten Kitchen is that she stresses the idea that home cooks have been making dough for centuries without the use of fancy equipment. The fancy equipment, of course, makes the work a little faster. But, if you have a tiny kitchen (like me) and most of your nice cooking equipment is in storage (like me), you don't have to give up on making things from scratch. With that in mind, let the adventure begin!

The only tools I used were a bowl and my clean hands. I don't even have a rolling pin (it's in a box too), so I had to sort of push the dough into a circle-ish shape. It doesn't get much easier than that!

Notes: This pizza was fabulous. It turned out great and I got to enjoy the extra satisfaction of being proud of myself for making it from scratch. The only things I would do differently next time would be (a) add a little more liquid because the dough seemed on the dry side and (b) roll it out with an actual rolling pin. My pressing method worked fine, but the crust was a little uneven in places.

I made my own sauce as well because, if you're going to go, might as well go all the way. I like to sneak vegetables in my sauce whenever I can. The carrots give this sauce a layer of sweetness that would normally require adding sugar. Healthy and delicious? Be still my beating heart!

If you're pressed for time, this probably isn't the recipe for you. It does take anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours for the dough to be ready to put in the oven. But for a weekend night? What could be more fun than homemade pizza?

Ingredients: This dough recipe is adapted only slightly from this one. I doubled it to make a doughy rather than thin crust.

For the dough:
3 cups total flour (1 1/2 white, 1 1/2 wheat)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 packet dry active yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons olive oil

For the pizza sauce:
1 can crushed or diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups grated carrot
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon each of dried parsley, basil, and oregano
1 1/2 tablespoons of onion powder
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
5 sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt
Pepper
Pinch red pepper flake

Directions:

Let's do the sauce first. You could make it ahead if you wanted to and just pull it out of the fridge when you're ready. This sauce makes enough for two pizzas, so you can save the other half in the freezer for the next round.

Grate the carrots first. Add olive oil or butter to the pan and turn the heat to medium. Saute the carrots until they are really tender. You want them to kind of disappear in the sauce a little.

Add your garlic and dried herbs. Then add the tomatoes. You might need to add just a little water if the sauce is too thick. Add the fresh herbs last. You can chop them up like I did, or you can just drop the sprigs in and fish out the stems when you're ready to put it on the pizza. Simmer for at least 20 minutes, but longer is even better if you have the time (and patience) to wait.

Now for the fun part!

Gather the dough ingredients and dump all of them in the bowl (no finesse required). Stir everything together as best you can with your hands. The dough will start to form a loose conglomeration of dough bits.

Not pretty

Dump that ugly mess onto a floured surface. Knead it for a minute or two until it starts to look like dough.  One of the tips I learned from Smitten Kitchen is to put the bowl on top of the dough if you're finding kneading difficult. Just let it sit in time out for a few minutes.

My dough needed a few minutes to think about what it had not done.

Come back, knead some more until it looks like a nice ball.

Much better

Oil your bowl (the very same one you used for mixing; just wipe it out with a paper towel) and put the dough ball back inside. Roll it around in there so it's nicely coated. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for an hour or two until the dough ball is double its original size. If you have a warm spot in your kitchen, put it there and it will get done faster for you. Since I live in Louisiana, every spot in my kitchen is warm.

Once the dough has doubled, dump the dough back out on the floured surface. Press the air out with your fingers and fold it into a ball again. Let it sit under the plastic wrap for 20 more minutes. Now is the time to preheat your oven. You want high heat. I used 475.

Now it's time to roll it out! I have no rolling pin, so I used a "press and turn" technique.

What? It's kind of a circle. 

Put the dough on a baking sheet. I happen to have a round one, but you can use any shape you have. If you have a pizza stone, use that. Put on your toppings.

We're a pepperoni household, so that's what we used. I also had some cotija cheese from when I made black bean tacos, so I put that on the pizza. It was great.

Getting ready for the big bake.

Put the pizza in at 475 for about 15 minutes. I started mine with the oven rack towards the top and then moved it down about halfway through. It came out perfect.

You cannot imagine how good this smells.

Who wants a slice?