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For my pot pie, I purchase bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, season with salt and pepper and roast in a 350° oven for 45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°. I let the breast cool, and shred the meat off the bone with a fork. You can also check the prepared food section of your favorite market either for a rotisserie chicken for this dish or if they sell shredded poultry meat.
The recipe starts by briefly cooking sliced carrots and diced potato in boiling water for five minutes and draining. In a large skillet, the butter is melted and the onion sautéed. Flour is added to the pan and cooked for a minute to remove the raw flour taste. Stock is added along with the seasonings and hot sauce and cooked until thickened. The call for white pepper is so that you don’t see pepper specks in your white sauce. The corn bread topping is made in a large bowl sifting the dry ingredients together. I use a 2-cup measuring cup to measure the wet ingredients; an egg, milk and oil and mix. The wet is incorporated into the dry until just combined. Using a 3-quart casserole, layer the meat on the bottom, top with 1/3 of the vegetables and season with salt and white pepper. Continue layering turkey and vegetables. Pour the sauce on top followed by the batter for the corn bread. Place the casserole on a rimmed baking sheet (in case of spillage to keep your oven clean) and bake until cooked through and top is golden. What a hearty meal for a cold winter’s night. The dish is appealing to kids of all ages with vegetables mixed with the sauce and meat. The sauce isn’t too thick or runny and the seasoning is well balanced with the hint of onion. The New York Times does a cookie week column during this time of the year. While they all sound delicious, the one that caught my eye was by Claire Saffitz for Mortadella Cookies. These cookie rounds replicate an actual slice of mortadella, which is an Italian cold cut made of cured pork with pork fat cubes, chopped pistachios and spiced with black pepper and myrtle berries. Its signature look are its fat and pistachio dots in the meat. To replicate the look, Ms. Saffitz used macadamia for the fact and for the pink color, ground freeze-dried strawberries. For the cookies soft texture, she uses almond paste. Other ingredients include all-purpose flour, kosher salt, baking powder, unsalted butter, powdered sugar, almond extract, an egg white and sanding sugar. Ever since I discovered King Arthur Baking’s recipe for DYI Almond Paste, I’ve been making it ever since. I purchase ground almond flour at Costco ($13.59 for a three-pound bag) and add confectioners’ sugar, an egg white, table salt and almond extract and mix it in my food processor. The recipe begins by minimally chopping the nuts. In the bowl of a food processor, you’ll combine the flour, freeze-dried strawberries, salt and baking powder. When done, it’s sifted through a fine mesh strainer then set aside in a bowl. In the same bowl, add butter, almond paste, powdered sugar and almond extract and process until smooth. Next, a tablespoon of lightly whisked egg white is added and the mixture processed again. Ms. Saffitz has you place the dough on a sheet of parchment, kneading to bring it together, followed by mixing in the nuts. Doing it this way was a bit of a pain. Next time, I’ll knead the dough and nuts together in a bowl. The recipe goes on to have you roll the dough into a log, chill, remove from refrigerator, coat with the balance of the egg white then coat in sanding sugar. I’ve included a video link showing Ms. Saffitz making this cookie. While she advised to use a sharp knife to cut 1/4” thick rounds, another cook suggested a meat slicing knife, which has a very thin blade. This suggestion allowed me to make nice, thin slices. What a delightful and delicious cookie. The texture of the cookie is slightly crisp on the edges, but tender in the middle, which is from the use of almond paste. The cookie isn’t overly sweet and the sanding sugar adds tiny bit of crunch on the edges. While macadamia nuts are expensive the recipe calls for a mere 2.5 ounces. I priced them at my local food stores (using their store apps), I purchased a small container (.40 ounces) at Delicious Orchards just over $5 ($12.99/lb.). There’s enough in the container to do another batch. Believe it or not, I still had one last piece of produce from my 2025 Dreyer Farm CSA box, an acorn squash. A quick internet search led me “Taste of Home” website and their “test kitchen approved” recipe by Lindsay Oberhausen for Roasted Herbed Squash with Goat Cheese. I got a two for one with this recipe, as I had some goat cheese in my refrigerator. The recipe calls for two acorn squashes and a butternut squash, olive oil, minced fresh thyme, minced fresh rosemary, kosher salt, coarsely ground black pepper, goat cheese, fresh parsley and slightly warmed maple syrup. Despite not have a second acorn squash or butternut squash, I adjusted the quantities and proceeded. Also, not having my cold frame this winter, I am nursing my thyme and rosemary plants in a southern facing window this winter. The hardest part of this recipe was peeling an acorn squash. The best way I found was to cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and slice into wedges followed by peeling with a peeler and occasionally using a paring knife. The squash is drizzled with olive oil and seasonings and baked on a foil lined rimmed baking sheet until tender. The recipe calls for cooling slightly before adding the goat cheese. The squash is tossed with the cheese, drizzled with maple syrup and garnished with chopped parsley. This was a tasty dish with a nice contrast between the tender squash and mild tang of the goat cheese. The maple syrup added a subtle sweetness. My husband and I enjoyed this preparation; however, I would have preferred it hot versus slightly cooled.
Turkey Pot Pie with Corn Bread Crust
“Food and Wine Magazine,” date unknown Servings: 8 Filling 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced 3/-8” disk thick 1 large baking potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice 6 tablespoon unsalted butter 2 medium onions, thinly sliced ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 4 cups hot turkey stock, chicken stock or canned broth ¾ teaspoon salt ¾ teaspoon white pepper 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce 4 generous cups cubed cooked, skinned turkey (if you don’t have enough turkey, augment with baked ham)* 1 cup frozen lima beans, thawed* Crust 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup white cornmeal* 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 egg, lightly beaten 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk 3 tablespoons safflower or corn oil* Preparation
*Donna’s Notes
Mortadella Cookies
Recipe by Claire Saffitz “These 7 Cookies Will Be the Life of Every Party,” By Vaughn Vreeland, The New York Times, December 1, 2025 Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes, plus at least 2-1/2 hours’ freezing and cooling Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour, plus at least 2-1/2 hours freezing Yield: 24 cookies Ingredients ½ cup/2½ ounces raw macadamia nuts, chopped into ¼-inch pieces 3 tablespoons raw pistachios, chopped into ⅛-inch pieces 1¼ cups/163 grams all-purpose flour 1½ ounces freeze-dried strawberries (about 2 cups) ½ teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) or ¼ teaspoon coarse kosher salt (such as Morton) ⅛ teaspoon baking powder ½ cup/113 grams unsalted butter, chilled, cut into tablespoon-size pieces 4 ounces almond paste, cut into tablespoon-size pieces ⅔ cup/83 grams powdered sugar ¼ teaspoon almond extract 1 large egg white, divided ⅓ cup/60 grams sanding sugar Preparation
Roasted Herbed Squash with Goat Cheese
Recipe by Lindsay Oberhausen Tested by Taste of Home Test Kitchen Prep Time: 25 minutes Cook: 30 minutes Ingredients 2 medium acorn squash (about 1-1/2 pounds each), peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes 1 large butternut squash (5 to 6 pounds), peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary 1 tablespoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper 1 log (11 ounces) fresh goat cheese, crumbled 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh parsley 1 tablespoon maple syrup, warmed slightly Directions
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