I'd like to introduce you to a most sublime recipe that is absolutely nasty to make.
Well,
nasty is probably the wrong term.
Sticky works better.
These are chicken turnovers, and it's the crust that's the sticky nasty part. Because of the stickiness involved, I usually triple or quadruple the recipe so I get it all over at once.
Here's the ingredients for the dough:
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups margarine (or butter) - not shortening
2 cups (8 oz.) cheddar cheese
2 cups sour cream
[I only had enough sour cream on hand to triple the batch, so that's what I did. I had so much dough that I had to divvy it up into two bowls since I didn't have a single bowl large enough to put all the dough together.]
Combine the flour and salt. Cut in the margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the cheese. Add the sour cream. This is where the dough becomes sticky.
Roll it out. Here's where it gets nasty. Be
generous in your use of flour to flour the breadboard otherwise the dough sticks. Roll the dough to about 1/4" thickness.
I use a pot lid to cut circular sections. Don't try to roll out all the dough at once - only take a manageable amount at a time.
I pile the sections on cookie sheets. Usually - and I stress
usually - there's enough flour on the sections so they don't stick to each other, but there's no guarantee of this. Consider yourself warned.
See? Sticky mess.
Tripling the recipe gave me 37 turnover sections.
Scrubbing the breadboard.
Next comes the filling, which thankfully is
much easier:
1 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/4 cups milk
4 cups cooked cubed chicken
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Saute onion and celery in the margarine. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly, until thickened. Add chicken and parsley.
Well, that's the original recipe. But I loathe celery and will never cook with it, and Older Daughter dislikes onions so I don't use them. Instead I flavored the filling with salt, pepper, parsley, sage, and garlic powder. Pick your own favorite spices.
I like to use canned chicken...
...because it shreds so beautifully.
Here's the filling, all cooked up:
Take a third-cup of filling and put it on a dough section:
Fold it over and pinch the edges.
With 37 turnovers, I ran out of cookie sheets and used the table surface.
(Notice Lydia's attentive presence under the table.)
Using every available implement with a flat surface (cookie sheets, pizza pans, griddle, pie pans, etc.), I laid all the turnovers flat and put them in the freezer (except for the ones we had for dinner). Then I had a
mountain of dishes to wash.
To cook, bake the turnovers at 450 degrees F for ten minutes, then reduce the temp to 400 degrees and bake another 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown.
After the uncooked turnovers have frozen solid, I layer them in a large (two-gallon) plastic ziplock bag and store them in the freezer. Put waxed paper between the layers (
trust me on this).
There are no finer items to have in the freezer for unexpected company. Enjoy!
