Chicken Cobbler
The following recipe is from The Little Book of Farmhouse Cooking. It was purchased on our trip to Ireland. I decided to pull it out and pick out a few recipes to make for St. Patrick's Day. The picture does not do the food justice. Too bad I can't just show you the picture from the book.
Chicken Cobbler (serves 6)
4 chicken joints, 2 breasts and 2 legs (I used 3 very large boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
2 1/2 pints water (I used chicken broth...you will see why in the recipe)
1 bay leaf (I skipped this ingredient)
4 whole peppercorns (I skipped this ingredient)
2 carrots, peeled and diced (we sliced ours)
24 button onions, peeled (we used a quarter of a large onion)
6 tbsps frozen sweetcorn (I just used canned corn)
1/4 pint double cream (we used heaving whipping cream)
Topping
14 oz plain four (we used all-purpose flour)
1 1/2 tbsps baking powder
pinch salt
5 tbsps butter or margarine
12 fl oz milk
1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt (umm...didn't use this either)
1. Place the chicken in a deep saucepan with water, bay leaf and peppercorns. Cover and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the chicken is tender. Remove the chicken from the pot and allow to cool. Skim and discard the fat from the surface of the stock. Skin the chicken and remove the meat from the bones. (Umm...I didn't do this.)
2. Continue to simmer the stock until reduced by about half. (Okay, I just used chicken broth added the carrots and onions and went from there). Strain, then add the carrots and onions. Cook until tender and add the sweetcorn. Stir in the cream and season. Add the chicken. Pour into a casserole.
3. To prepare the topping, sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.
4. Rub in the butter or margarine until the mixture resembles small peas (I used a pastry blender). Stir in enough of the milk to bind the mixture.
5. turn out onto a floured surface and knead lightly. Roll out with a floured rolling pin and cut with a pastry cutter (I just cut the biscuits out with a juice glass). Brush the surface of each round with the egg mixture (I didn't do this part...so my biscuits didn't brown as nice as the picture in the book). Place on top of the chicken mixture and bake for 10-15 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 375 F. Serve immediately (we let it sit for about 5 minutes).
Okay, if you actually made it past the picture (which was absolutely terrible), the cobbler was very yummy. I actually thought about doing this post without the picture because it looks so unappetizing. I will make this again. I would make the biscuits every week if it weren't for all of the butter. Gabe and I are laughing about how unappetizing the picture looks.