2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced
3/4 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken.
In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and sauté the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and the heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions, and parsley. Mix well. Place the stew in a 10 x 13 x 2-inch oval or rectangular baking dish. Place the baking dish on a sheet pan lined with parchment or wax paper. Bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the biscuits. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Add the half-and-half and combine on low speed. Mix in the parsley. Dump the dough out on a well-floured board and, with a rolling pin, roll out to 3/8-inch thick. Cut out twelve circles with a 2 1/2-inch round cutter.
Remove the stew from the oven and arrange the biscuits on top of the filling. Brush them with egg wash, and return the dish to the oven. Bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, until the biscuits are brown and the stew is bubbly.
Note: To make in advance, refrigerate the chicken stew and biscuits separately. Bake the stew for 25 minutes, then place the biscuits on top, and bake for another 30 minutes, until done.

Mediterranean Chicken Breasts

2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 Cup Marinara Sauce
1 Tbs Capers
3 Anchovie Filets
6 Kalamata Olives.

Pound chicken breasts to 1/4 inch. Flour and season lightly. Saute in olive oil. For sauce, place remaining ingredients in food processor and process until finely chopped, but not smooth. Heat and serve on chicken breasts.

Chicken and Asparagus Casserole

    When I was first given this recipe, it called for mayonnaise instead of the plain yogurt, so you can feel free to switch, but I think it is not only healthier, but actually tastes better this way.
One thing that I substitute when I am in a big hurry, is instead of the chicken, I go to the deli at the supermarket and have them slice a chunk ½- ¾ inch of their high quality turkey breast.

2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1-2 cups plain yogurt
1-2 tsp curry powder
1-2 tbsp salt
2 cans asparagus, drained
grated cheddar cheese for top of casserole

    Cut chicken into ½ inch pieces and sauté in a skillet- put cooked chicken into a casserole dish. Add asparagus as the next layer. Then, mix soup, yogurt curry powder and salt together and pour over the top of the asparagus. Top with the grated cheddar. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Chicken Curry

¼ cup oil
2 whole chickens, cut up
4 onions, sliced
4 tbsp curry powder
pinch cayenne pepper
3 tbsp flour
4 cups chicken stock
4 carrots, sliced
4 potatoes, cut into chunks

    Clean chicken and brown lightly in oil in frying pan. Remove chicken and cook onions over low hear until lightly browned. Stir in curry and flour and a pinch of cayenne pepper and cook for a minute or two.
Add chicken and stock and cook, stirring, until thickened. Return chicken to the pan and add the carrots and potatoes.
Lower the heat and simmer for 30-35 minutes.
If you like, you can use boned and skinned chicken breasts instead of the whole chicken pieces; just add them in the last 15 minutes of cooking. No browning is necessary.
Serve over rice.

De-Boned and Stuffed Whole Chicken

To de-bone the chicken;

    Have a really sharp knife- I prefer a butcher knife, but there are boning knives made specifically for this. (obviously) Also, a large cutting board which is dedicated to raw meat.
Place the chicken on the cutting board, back-side up. Cut from neck to tail through the skin. Other than the ends of the legs and wings, this will be the only time that you cut through the skin.
Pull the skin up and cut through everything that sticks to the bone. When you get to where the thigh is attached to the body, cut it away through the white cartilage, then while pulling the bone out, scrape the meat away from the bone with your knife. When you get to the knuckle at the end of the bone, simply cut through the bone and pull it out.
At the wings, cut the last part completely off from the final joint, and proceed basically as you did at the leg.
After this, continue around the chicken, taking care at the breast to not go through the skin.
When you have completely de-boned the chicken, carefully check to make sure that you don’t have any bone fragments at the end of the legs and wings.

For the stuffing
You can use the traditional turkey stuffing, which is great, but I like to do a sweet/savory combination. To the regular bread cubes, I add raisins which have been soaked in 1/2 -1 cup of hot white wine. Everything else is basically the same, but you have to alter the stock that you add because of the wine. Also, mix in 1 egg, which will bind it all together and make for a nice presentation.

    Lay your de-boned chicken out and fill with your stuffing, stuffing a small amount into the legs and wings. Close the skin at the back with small metal skewers. When you turn the chicken over, you can manipulate the chicken so that it almost looks like it still has the bones.

    Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until done. To serve, cut through the entire bird, stuffing and all, and serve either an entire half or quarter. Serve with a Velouté sauce (gravy) on page ___ in sauces chapter.

Stuffed Cornish Game Hens

2 Cornish Game Hens
2 sweet potatoes or yams
1 tbsp butter
½ cup coarsely chopped pecans
2 tbsp milk or cream

    Boil or bake the sweet potatoes until soft. Peel and mash the potatoes and then add the butter, pecans and milk. Salt and pepper to taste. Clean and stuff the game hens and tie the legs to the tail with string.
Place in a buttered casserole dish and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Cut each in half to serve.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

4 chicken breasts
1 pkg. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed
or
thinly sliced ham
4 tbsp feta or Swiss cheese
1 tbsp oil
1 can mushroom soup
8 oz plain yogurt

    Pound chicken breasts between pieces of plastic wrap until 1/8 inch thick. Cover with spinach leaves or ham. (I think it would be good to use both!)
Place 1 tbsp of cheese on top and roll into a neat bundle. Secure with a toothpick or two.
Season each roll with salt and pepper, dredge in flour and brown lightly in oil in a hot skillet. Add mushroom soup and yogurt, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Chicken with Vegetables

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
salt and pepper
8-10 medium potatoes
1 lb carrots
3 medium onions
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tsp dried herbs- oregano, rosemary, basil and thyme
1 lb zucchini
optional garnish- 2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs

    Cut chicken into serving pieces and brown them in a large frying pan filmed with olive oil.
Meanwhile peel carrots, potatoes and onions. Cut carrots into 2-inch pieces, halving or quartering large pieces so all are uniform size. Cut potatoes into golf ball size pieces. Quarter the onions.
Add the carrots, potatoes, onions and garlic to the pan. Season with the dried herbs, salt and pepper. Add ¼ cup water to the pan and lower the temperature to medium. Cover the pan and cook for 20-25 minutes.
Cut zucchini in half lengthwise, then in 2 to 3 inch chunks. Add to the pan along with ¼ cup more water if food is sticking. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until all of the vegetables are done. They should be tender but whole. Sprinkle with fresh herbs, if desired.

Sticky Chicken
From Aunt Aloha

    This recipe is really good, but because of the long cooking time I’ve only made it once. I guess you just have to make it yourself to decide if it is worth it. It’s actually not difficult, you just have to really plan ahead. I think I will actually try it again myself.

2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
¾ tsp cayenne
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp thyme
¼ white pepper
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp black pepper
1 whole chicken
1 cup chopped onions

    In a small bowl combine the spices. Rub mixture into the chicken, inside and out, patting the mixture into the skin to make sure it is evenly distributed and down, deep into the skin.
Place into a re-sealable plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.
When you’re ready to cook the chicken, stuff the cavity with the onions and place it in a roasting pan.
Roast, uncovered, at 250 degrees for about 5 hours, basting occasionally with the pan juices.