Nə Bişirirsən?

What do you cook? This is the question I get asked most often. Actually the question I get asked most often is "Can you cook?" but I don't consider that a real question because everyone knows that A). The two of us live alone. B). Men don't cook. and C). We're not dead yet.

I have an impossible time answering this question. See, to an Azerbaijani, the answer to this question is easy: dolma, aş, xaş, boz baş, and sup. That is what everyone makes and everyone knows exactly what you are talking about when you say that. But I don't cook aş, dolma, xaş, boz baş and (ok, sometimes we make soup)... When I start saying "Well, sometimes I make Indian food with rice, or Italian food with pasta, or pizza, or Mexican food and burritos..." no one can even imagine what I could possibly be rattling on about. So then you try to explain the recipe--"Well, you sort of make bread and flatten it out and then you make sauce with tomatoes and put that on. Then you put cheese and whatever vegetables you want..." The person will inevitably cut you off by saying either "Gross!" or "Oh yeah, we have that too."

This is frustrating because since coming here, Mathias and I have become pretty good cooks and come across some great recipes. So I thought I'd share with you our very favorite. It's warm, filling, and perfect for people like me who always forget to defrost the chicken! Most likely you have most if not all the ingredients already on hand. It's also a good teambuilding exercise-Mathias makes the dough and I make the sauce. Many thanks to James Maloney for teaching me how to make a bechamel!

The first thing you do is make the Buttermilk Bisquit recipe from the PC Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. baking soda
5 Tbs. butter
¾ cup buttermilk (add 1 Tbs. vinegar to ¾ cup milk and let sit 5 minutes)

*Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter (this is much easier if it is soft, but not melted). When butter is mixed well, lightly mix in buttermilk. Knead for several minutes. You may need to add at least 1 more cup of flour. Dough should be slightly sticky, but manageable. Set aside*

This is where teamwork comes into play. One person hangs out at the table, cutting and combining:

In a large bowl Combine:
4 Large Carrots, peeled and cubed
2-3 Frozen Chicken Breasts, cut into 3/4 inch squares (Cutting frozen chicken is easier and more fun than cutting up raw!)
1 Can of Peas (Fresh Peas are not in season this time of year!)


Person two stands at the stove and whips up a thick bechamel:
(Measurements are approximate and never the same twice)
4 Tablespoons Butter
4 Tablespoons Flour
2 Cups Milk
Nutmeg
Poultry Seasoning
Rosemary
Thyme
Salt and Pepper

*Melt butter and sprinkle in flour, stirring until smooth and consistant. Slowly add milk a little at a time (real chefs scald the milk first) stirring until everything is integrated and smooth. Cook a couple minutes until the sauce bubbles and thickens. Throw in roughly three large pinches of salt, a dusting of pepper, dusting of nutmeg, two or three shakes of poultry seasoning, a pinch of rosemary and about three shakes of thyme. Taste, season, taste, season...

Dump the Bechamel in the bowl of veggies and chicken:

Mix it up and throw it into a baking dish (ours is roughly 8 or 9 inches?)

Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes until the chicken pieces are almost all white. Our oven doesn't have a temperature gauge but we'd guess 350 would work fine.

Then flatten out your biscuit dough to the size of the pan and lay on top. Doesn't have to be perfect. Cook for about 8-10 minutes. We just watch it unil the biscuits are toasty brown on top (yep, PC TV!)

Nus Olsun!! (Bon Appetite!)