Hunger Relief

Purchase Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope, WCK’s first-ever cookbook at https://wck.org/cookbookIn WCK’s first ever cookbook, we’ve gathered recipes inspired by many of the places our Relief Team has cooked following disasters and other crises around the world, as well as sharing inspiring narratives from the chefs, volunteers, and communities we’ve met along the way. Here, we’ve included the recipe for Chef Mollie’s Herbed Chicken Pot Pie With Biscuits. Mollie’s Herbed Chicken Pot Pie With BiscuitsChicken pot pie became a go-to during our pandemic response in Washington, DC, where we had dozens of volunteers cooking at Nationals Park, the District’s temporarily shuttered baseball stadium. This recipe, which comes from WCK chef Mollie, who has cooked in upscale restaurants throughout the city, is a superlative version- a simple but silky sauce coats shredded chicken, carrots, and peas, with a subtle herbal background from sage and thyme. The biscuits are made ahead of time and then refrigerated until it’s all baked together. It’s an easy recipe to multiply and great to share with neighbors or friends who need comfort—you can keep the filling and unbaked biscuits separate and give instructions for how to construct the final dish. “It somehow became my signature dish, and I’m not quite sure why,” Mollie says. “But as long as everybody loves it, it can be mine.”SERVES 4 TO 6BISCUITS2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping 1 tablespoon baking powder1 tablespoon sugar½ teaspoon fine sea salt6 tablespoons (85 grams) cold unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon, melted, for brushing ¾ cup (170 grams) whole milkFILLING4 tablespoons unsalted butter1 small yellow onion, diced2 medium garlic cloves, minced1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage3 fresh thyme sprigs1 bay leaf2 medium carrots, peeled and diced2 celery stalks, diced ½ cup whole milk3 tablespoons cornstarch1½ cups chicken stock, homemade or store-bought4 cups shredded cooked chicken (see Note on page 124), dark and white meat1 cup frozen peas1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to tasteMAKE THE BISCUITS: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Using the largest holes of a box grater, grate the cold butter into the bowl and work it into the dry mix with your hands until it has the texture of coarse sand. Add the milk and stir gently with a fork just until the mixture comes together into a wet dough.Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured counter. Gently press it out with your hands into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Fold into thirds like a letter and gently press it with your hands again to make a 1-inch-thick rectangle of dough. Using a 2- to 3-inch round biscuit cutter (or a clean glass about the same size), cut 6 to 8 biscuits (depending on the size of your cutter) from the dough-cut them out as close together as possible to minimize scraps. Place the cut-out biscuits on the lined sheet pan. Press the dough scraps together, reflour the surface if needed, and reroll into a l-inch-thick sheet (refrigerate the dough for 10 or 15 minutes if it’s too soft to work with). Cut out more biscuits, if possible, and discard any remaining scraps. Refrigerate the sheet pan of biscuits while you make the filling.Preheat the oven to 450°F.MAKE THE FILLING: In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed ovenproof pot, melt the 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, sage, thyme, and bay leaf and gently sauté, stirring regularly, until the onions are translucent and everything is fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the carrots and celery and sauté until fragrant, about 5 minutes.In a small measuring cup, combine the milk and cornstarch with a fork or whisk and mix until smooth.Add the chicken stock to the vegetables and bring to a simmer. Once the liquid is simmering, add the cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil. The mixture should start to thicken within a few minutes. Add the chicken, peas, salt, and pepper and stir to combine until everything is well distributed. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, as needed. Remove the bay leaf.Take the biscuits out of the fridge and arrange them on top of the filling, or you can bake them directly on the lined sheet pan. Brush the biscuits with the melted butter. Bake until the filling is hot and bubbling and the biscuits are golden brown and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.Serve immediately in bowls, topping the chicken filling with a biscuit or two.Note: One 3-pound whole roasted chicken (or rotisserie chicken) should yield 4 cups of shredded meat. Or, you can poach 3 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 5 to 6 boneless, skinless thighs in simmering salted water until they’re cooked through, about 15 minutes for breasts and 12 minutes for thighs. Leftover turkey from Thanksgiving also makes a great pot pie!