Filet of Honeycrisp, Chicken Thighs and Barbados Cherries

Lady Sally wasn't feeling so well the other day, so she decided it was time for me to make some chicken soup. Everybody knows the efficacy of chicken soup in dealing with the common and uncommon cold!  My sovereign remedy is Chinese Hot & Sour Soup which is an ever evolving recipe that contains a standard body of ingredients which vary in quantity.

Hot & Sour Soup (Chicken Thighs #1)

Part of the charm of this dish is that nearly everything is in shreds or small strips.

32 oz no-salt Chicken Broth

4 Chicken Thighs (bone in)

1/4 lb extra firm Tofu cut into 1/4” strips

1 bunch Green Onions, cut into 1” julienne

1 Egg, beaten

4 oz Crimini Mushrooms

1/2 can Bean Sprouts

1 thumb fresh Ginger, julienned

1/4 cup White Wine Vinegar

1/4 cup Soy Sauce (I used mushroom-soy from my local Asian market which I had on hand)

1/8 cup Hoisin Sauce

1/8 cup Pepper Sauce (I had Tapatio handy)

S&P tt (salt and pepper to taste)

Brown the thighs, then add the broth and everything else except the vinegar and tofu. Simmer until the chicken is very done. Remove thighs, strip off the meat and discard the bones. Return shredded meat to pot, add the vinegar, tofu and a couple cups of water, and simmer 15-20 minutes more before serving.

Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pie (Chicken Thighs #2)

I made this for our Sunday Lunch yesterday, but cooked the thighs Saturday evening and cooled them overnight in the fridge.  Both of us prefer chicken breast if I'm going to serve a slab 'o chicken on a plate.  But thighs are the perfect poultry part for dishes like Hot & Sour Soup or this pot pie -- more flavorful and much cheaper.  Buy the ones with bones and skin, then pull the skin off before cooking, to reduce the amount of fat in the dish. 

1 frozen rolled up Pie Crust

4 Chicken Thighs, bone-in, skinned

1 9oz box frozen Pearl Onions with Cream Sauce

4 oz Frozen Peas

4 oz Crimini Mushrooms

4 oz mixed Shredded Cheese

Cavendar's Spice Blend to taste (or Old Bay if you can't find Cavender's)

Saute the thighs, dusted with a bit of Cavendar's, until browned. Then add a cup of water and poach until they are almost falling off the bone. Cool, shred the meat and discard the bones.

Thaw the pie crust and roll out the cover a 9” deep dish pie tin. Thaw the frozen vegetables. Toss vegetables with the chicken, mushrooms, cheese and additional spice as desired. Dock the bottom of the crust with a fork. Fill the crust with the chicken-vegetable mixture until heaping (it will slump during cooking). Bake in a 350F pre-heated oven for 30-45 minutes until nice and bubbly and the crust is browned on the edges.

I served the pot pie with a side of my signature side dish:

Ginger-Orange Carrot Ribbons

1-2 large carrots per person

1 thumb of fresh Ginger, julienned

1/2 container frozen Orange Juice concentrate.

Peel the carrots.  Don't throw away that outer peel.  Just keep peeling until you can't get any more carrot ribbons.  In a large skillet put half the OJ concentrate and the ginger.  Top with the mass of carrot ribbons.  Cover and turn the heat on medium.  Cook about 10 minutes, tossing the carrots in the juice,  until the carrots are tender.

Barbados Cherry Jam

It's been a bumper year for our Barbados Cherry bush.  We've harvested more and larger cherries in the last month than in the previous 2+ years.  Full of vitamin C, the Acerola as it's also known has a taste sorta like crab apples -- tart not sweet.  Since there is very little meat on a cherry, juice and jams are good things to do.  I also combine the juice with cream cheese like I do with Key Lime juice, and make a refrigerator pie.

4 cups Barbados cherries

3cups water

1/4 cup Lemon Juice (I used Meyer lemon juice)

2 cups Brown Sugar

1 cup White Sugar

1 packet Pectin

Cook the cherries in the water for 15-20 minutes. Use a potato masher to split and otherwise dismember the cherries and let out all the high vitamin C goodness. Press through a sieve to extract the juice and leave behind the seeds and most of the pulp.

Measure 4 cups of juice and the sugar into a pot. Bring to a boil and add the packet of pectin. Cook for about 2 minutes, then remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes or so before ladling into jars.

Filet of Honeycrisp

I happened to see Lady Sally cutting up an apple the other day, an it dawned on me that I do it differently than most.  I don't cut wedges of apple then cut away divots of seeds in each piece.  Here's how I "filet" an apple:

No muss, little fuss, and no seeds to surgically remove!