Projo Football Food & Spirits

The Jets actually play at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey, sharing the stadium with the Giants. We struck out at the Jersey papers' food sections -- they seem only to eat out and write about it -- but found a page of recipes from Jersey Fresh Cooks, collected by the state department of agriculture.

This chicken pot pie caught my eye, because it easy -- no crust -- and, baked with a topping of mashed potatoes, may be the ultimate comfort food as we watch the teams weather a nor'easter Sunday.

Chicken Pot Pie with Chive Mashed Potatoes

For Filling:
2 lbs whole chicken breasts with skin and bones
1 cup pearl onions, unpeeled
2 Jersey Fresh medium carrots, cut into ¼-inch thick slices
2 Jersey Fresh celery ribs, cut into ¼-inch thick pieces
½ cup Jersey Fresh peas
¼ pound mushrooms, sliced thin
¼ cup Jersey Fresh shallots, finely chopped
¼ tsp Jersey Fresh thyme, crumbled
¼ cup all purpose flour
2½ cups chicken broth
2 TBS unsalted butter
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp Jersey Fresh tarragon, crumbled
1/3 cup Jersey dry white wine
salt and pepper to taste

For Mashed Potatoes:
1 ½ pounds Jersey Fresh potatoes
3 TBS Jersey Fresh chives, minced
¼ cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

To make filling: In a large saucepan, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Add chicken and simmer, uncovered 25 minutes. Remove pan from heat and transfer chicken to a bowl, discarding cooking liquid. Cool. Discard skin and bones. Cut chicken into ¾-inch cubes.

Bring 2 quarts water to a boil and cook onions until tender. Transfer onions to a bowl of cold water, reserving cooking liquid in pan. Peel onions and add to chicken. Return reserved cooking liquid to a boil and cook carrots and celery until just tender. Drain carrots and celery and add with uncooked peas to chicken mixture.

Cook mushrooms in ½ TBS butter over moderate heat, stirring, until softened and golden brown and add to chicken mixture. Cook shallots with bay leaf, thyme, and tarragon in remaining 1½ TBS butter over moderately low heat, stirring, until soft and pale golden and stir in flour. Cook mixture, stirring, 3 minutes and gradually whisk in wine, broth, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer sauce 5 minutes, whisking occasionally.

Discard bay leaf. Pour sauce over chicken mixture and stir until combined well.

For Mashed Potatoes: Peel potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces. Cover potatoes with water and simmer until very tender. Drain potatoes and reserve about 1/3 cup cooking liquid. In batches, force potatoes through a ricer or food mill fitted with medium disk into a bowl and stir in sour cream, chives, salt and pepper to taste, and enough reserved cooking liquid to reach a fluffy consistency. Do not use a food processor. Transfer potatoes to pastry bag filled with a ½-inch fluted tip.

Spread filling in a 1½ to 2-quart gratin dish or other shallow baking dish. Pipe mashed potatoes decoratively in mounds on filling and bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven until filling is bubbling and potatoes are golden on edges, about 25 minutes. Serves 4

Contributed by: Helen Archer, Burlington, NJ

I'll skip the pastry bag part. Sculpted snowdrifts, that's the ticket.

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