Mushroom and Chicken Cobbler

 I love this dish. I always make it in the spring when morels are up. But, it is also delicious with button mushrooms that you can buy at the grocery store.

You will need a pan large enough to hold the chicken and that has a lid.

1 pound chicken meat
seasonings for making broth- I use salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley
1 cup water.


Heat the water to a boil.
Lower to a simmer and cover. Cook for 1-2 hours.
Take out chicken and let cool. Chop.

Measure the water. You want 1 cup so if it is more, add back to pan and cook down until you get a cup.
Set aside.

2 Tablespoons butter
1 small onion
8 oz. sliced button mushrooms. If using morels, use 2 cups halved.
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
salt, pepper and parsley to taste.

Melt the butter in the pan and add the onion and mushrooms.
Stir and cook for a few minutes.
When that is soft, sprinkle over the flour and cook and stir for a minute.
Pour the broth and milk over and stir in and cook until the sauce has thickened.
Add the chicken and taste. Season if you like.
Pour into a baking dish.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 Celsius.

Make the scone dough.

1 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 Tablespoons milk
extra milk for brushing

In a bowl, add the flour and cut in the butter until it is crumbly.
Mix in the cheese.
Add the milk and work it in so it isn't sticky.
Roll out on a floured surface to a height of about an inch and cut out 12 rounds and place the rounds along the edge of the cobbler.
Brush with a little milk.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden.
Serves 4.

I don't eat wheat so I used oat flour and it worked well.
When making the scones, the dough stayed sticky even with adding a little extra flour and adding a little flax meal..
To solve this, I divided the dough into 12 pieces and rolled them into balls and flattened.

It saves time and still works to use 1 pound cooked chicken meat and 1 cup of already made broth or broth made from a bouillon cube and water.
The broth is richer and more flavorful if you do have the time to make it from scratch.

Stuffed Morels

If you don't know, morels are wild mushrooms. They are only found at certain times of the year. Usually anywhere from April to June in the US, depending on where you live.
They do sell kits where you can grow your own, but I don't know anyone that has had any luck growing their own.

I love these. Morels come in grey, which are small and come up first. Later on, the yellows pop and they are the larger ones for stuffing.

If you don't hunt them, know of anyone who does, or can't buy any- use the large stuffer button mushrooms available at the supermarket.

You will need a deep fryer or wide pan, deep enough for frying the mushrooms.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
large pinch of garlic powder
pinch of salt
large pinch of dried parsley flakes
pinch of pepper
large pinch of dried tarragon
large pinch of dried thyme 

10 to 12 large capped morels

1-1/2 cups flour OR mix of ground flax seed and your choice of flour
1-3/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 to 3/4 cup milk

oil for frying

Mix the cream cheese, pinch of salt, pepper and herbs in a bowl and let rest while you ready the mushrooms.
Cut the stems up to where the caps of the morels start. Save the stems for another use.
With a small spoon and /or fingers fill each of the mushroom caps. Sometimes the cap openings are too narrow to fit a spoon into, but your finger works well to push it in there.
Set aside and get your coating stuff ready.
In one bowl, pour the milk.
In another bowl, mix the flour, 1-1/2 teaspoon salt, and cayenne pepper.
Dip each mushroom into the milk than into the flour mixture and repeat to get a good coating.
Put onto a plate and stick in the freezer for at least 3 hours so the coating won't come off and the cheese won't leak out during deep frying.

Heat your oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You want the oil to be at least a couple inches deep to cover the shrooms.
Add the morels to the oil one by one so they don't stick together and fry until coating is a golden brown color.
This will take about 5 or 6 minutes.
Drain on paper towels and serve.

You can eat with a dip of your choosing or as is, like I do.

If you have extra cheese filling left, it is great spread on crackers.

These are great as a do ahead  of time. I like to make enough to have more than one time and keep them in the freezer.

Batter Dipped Morels

Morels are wild mushrooms that only come around one time a year. If you love mushrooms and are lucky enough to find any of these, you are in for a treat.
You can fix morels in many ways. This is the way my dad always made them and they are pretty yummy.

You will need a large skillet.


Ingredients:

Morels, cleaned and sliced in half- enough for a nice batch

A stick of butter for frying the morels


BATTER-

1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg


In a bowl, beat all the batter ingredients until smooth.

Set the skillet on medium high heat and put in the butter to melt.
When the butter is melted and hot, dip the morel halves into the batter and let excess batter drip off. The morels should sizzle when put in pan or the butter isn't hot enough.
Add the morels to the skillet.
Fry for a couple minutes until golden. Turn over and cook on the other side.