Good morning, America: My latest hangover.

“The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation.” – Jonathan Larson, Rent

My head and stomach are in an extreme battle for who can make my entire physical being feel worse today. Things took a bad turn when Campaign 2016 commandeered all of the judgement left within my sound(ish) mind and forced my hand toward that last beer. It was the kicker, yet I’ll survive.

It’s not that I’ve never felt a hangover, a headache so overpowering I fear it may never leave, but this morning was different. This morning I recognized the opportunity to be a hopeful creative in a place that has turned not only against creativity throughout this presidential campaign (Though some of my fellow writers have gotten slightly more humorous of late and for that, I thank you.), but has given up hope entirely based on some ill-intended comments meant to incite a terrible nightmare. The gig is up and the trick only worked on half of us.

In my achy, fragile grey morning–though I swear I saw fire on the horizon!–I am able to only stomach some toast and a cup of English Breakfast tea. However, this feeling of mixed up confusion and slight hope that hope is still alive has lead me back here. Back to a platform I had created to incite my own destiny, to pump my life with my two favorite things whenever I so choose: food and snarky blog writing. And today I promise myself to force this practice into my routine and to give the Internet the Rhode Island Food Snob it deserves. If you’d like to be a part of the journey, please subscribe. Please comment or like and share anything you might like to add, see, learn, explore, laugh at, cry about. I’m game for all of it and I’m here to join a community of individuals I feel strongly about–those who use platforms like these to share what they love and look to connect, to heal. This is what we will need, now.

Please end the destruction, please stop tearing at a scrap that is already nothing, was already nothing before we began to divide it. Please, I urge you, go back to a place of creativity. Create anything: anger, humor, fear, animosity, excitement, light, hope–express what needs to be expressed in a constructive way. There are outlets all around us, please choose one and show us what you cannot live without.

In the meanwhile, for those of you seeking comfort, I have chosen an appropriate recipe for this post that I hope you’ll enjoy. Wake up with me and give the day enough time to ease your headaches.

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Crustless Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cleaned and quartered

6 stalks of celery, halved

6 carrots, peeled and halved

2 small white or sweet onions, quartered

2 c. potatoes

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3/4 c. flour

1 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. heavy cream

salt & pepper (additionally peppercorns, optional)

 

Methodology & Instructions:

For this particular recipe, I pulled from some strong sources. One being my mother’s experimental style of knowing how food should taste and messing around a little bit to create deep flavors and comforting feelings in my food. Additionally, as it was my first time making pot pie, I referenced some basic online recipes–specifically one from the Pioneer Woman because she offers multiple suggestions throughout the recipe. Thus, the below steps should be followed somewhat strictly by a beginner, referencing additional tips for certain prep work as needed, and loosely but with attention to detail for a pro.

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine garlic, thyme (remove from sprigs–Tip: There are tools for herb stripping.), 2 tbsp. olive oil or canola oil, 3 tbsp. salt, 2 tbsp. pepper. Toss chicken, half of the celery, half of the carrots, half of 1 onion in mixture to coat.
3. Place in a deep roasting pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is just cooked through, celery and carrots become tender.
4. Remove all ingredients from the roasting pan including any accumulated fat or juices and place in a bowl to cool. Once cooled, pull chicken meat from bones (Tip: Use two forks to shred the meat most easily.) and dice carrots, celery and onion. Toss together and let sit.
5. Broth: Place chicken bones with remaining carrots, celery and onion in a large pot. Add 4 tbsp. salt, 3 tbsp. pepper or a pinch of black peppercorns. Fill pot with cold water before placing on stove to bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
6. In the meanwhile, place potatoes in a small pot, cover with cold water, add 2 tbsp. salt and bring to a boil on stove top. Boil 5-8 minutes or until just tender. (Tip: Poke with a fork to test for tenderness.) Once cooked, dice and mix with roasted chicken and vegetable mixture.
7. After broth has simmered to full flavor, drain and discard bones and vegetables. Set aside broth and make the rue/pot pie filling.
8. Rue: Place 2 1/2 cups chicken broth in a medium sauce pot and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add butter and cream, mix together until smooth. Begin to slowly add flour while whisking constantly. Once rue runs smooth, begin to stir in roasted chicken and vegetable mixture, coating with rue. Add additional salt and pepper to taste and chicken broth for desired consistency.
9. Serving options: Serve in bowls, or over toast or with buttered biscuits for dipping in place of crust.

 

Until next time,

♥ Food Snob