2 Skinless, Boneless Chicken Breasts
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1/2 an onion, sliced in half-moons
1 tablespoon olive oil
3tbs dry vermouth, or other dry white wine
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
6tbs unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs flour
2 tbs heavy cream
1 can sliced carrots, drained
1 can peas, drained
2 tbs dried, or 1/4 cup fresh parsley
For the buiscuts:
1 cup flour
1/2 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
4tbs cold unsalted butter, diced (I keep mine in the freezer!)
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs half and half
1/4 cup fresh or 2 tbs dried parsley
1 scallion (optional)
Yes, I used canned vegetables in this recipe! But I wasn't going to lie to you and tell you I used local. There wasn't a greenmarket today. And I didn't think ahead and buy local yesterday! My onions and chicken were local, though, so I was halfway there! If you do decide to use fresh carrots, you'll need 2 chopped (about a cup), blanched for 2 minutes and put into an ice bath to stop the cooking. The recipe itself called for one cup of frozen peas, which is when I got my canned idea. I was actually afraid the vegetables were going to turn to mush when everything was done, but they were fine! And I know this all looks daunting, but I was done in a little over an hour--just keep going and you'll be done before you know it!
Now make the biscuits. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, or in a food processor. Add the butter and mix until the butter is the size of small peas. Add the half and half and combine on low speed. Mix in the parsley and scallion. Get the dough onto a well-floured board or countertop and roll out to 3/8 inch thick. Cut twelve circles out with a cookie cutter (I used one of the cans, washed, of course!), or just enough to cover the stew. If you're feeling fancy, you could just roll out the dough to fit just inside the pot, and poke some holes in the top to vent while cooking. This would make it more like a pot-pie. Remove the stew from the oven, add the peas and carrots if you're using canned, and top with the biscuits. If you're extra fancy, take and egg and whisk it with some water. Use a pastry brush to brush the top of your biscuits. This will make a nice, brown shiny top to them! Bake all for 20-30 minutes, or until the biscuits are brown and the stew is bubbly. Eat immediately, if you don't care about your tongue being a bit burned. We didn't. It was too miserable a day to wait on such a thing as cooling a stew!
I recommend drinking a nice oaky chardonnay with this dish.