Comfort food and cast iron

I forgot to post this yesterday right up until I was falling asleep. So instead you will get two blog posts today.

Chicken Gravy with Biscuits
(A recipe made up by Abby on the fly, feel free to adapt accordingly)

 Ingredients

• a leftover roast chicken
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 bell pepper (although celery would be great here too)
• some frozen peas (Alex kindly pointed out that I forgot this key component
• butter
• flour
• salt
• pepper
• spices that sound good (I used oregano, thyme, tarragon, and a pinch of paprika)
• milk
• water
• biscuit recipe

A convoluted set of directions

Okay start off by picking all of the remaining chicken off of the roast chicken placing it off to the side. Take the remaining chicken bones and such and put them in a put with enough water to full cover them. Get this to a medium boil.

This is where the cast iron comes into the scene. Heat it to medium and add a splash of cooking oil or butter. Dice the vegetables and sauté them until the onion is translucent. Lightly chop up the leftover chicken and add that to the pan.

Next comes the gravy. Turn the heat down to medium low. Then take a nice pat of butter and add it to the mixture. Then dump a similar amount of flour (I used 2-3 tablespoons) into the pan. Stir quickly and thoroughly to give the flour time to get absorbed by the butter. The mixture should look sticky and mostly absorbed into the vegetables and meat.

Now add milk, I started with 1 cup and eventually ended up adding 3 cups. Stir after each addition. Let this simmer for a few minutes and then start adding your salt, pepper and other seasonings.

Depending on the thickness of this and your own whimsical preferences, add a ladle-full or two from the simmering stock pot on the back burner. Continue tweaking and tasting until the gravy is perfect.

Now times for the biscuits. Turn your oven on to 425 degrees. Make your favorite biscuit recipe. Once the biscuit dough is ready tear it into small bits and place on top of the gravy mixture. You want the gravy to be completely covered.

Pop into the oven for 15-20 minutes. Once the biscuit tops are all nicely browned take it out and allow to cool for an additional 10 minutes. Then enjoy

P.S. Once your chicken stock has released all its tasty goodness, strain, pour into a glass container and freeze for the winter ahead.