Chicken and Biscuits

Chicken and Sage Biscuit Crumb Topping  
Serves 12

The most wonderful part of this recipe is that it can be as simple or complex as you want. Feel like roasting your own chicken? Go for it. Opting for a store bought rotisserie chicken, even easier. Biscuits or baking scare you? Maybe you don’t have a food processor. Buy store bought biscuits or simply cover with thawed puff pastry from your grocery frozen section. No judgment here.  

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 large carrot, cut into 1/3-inch chunks
1 celery rib, 1/3-inch chuck
1 pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 quart low-sodium chicken broth
Salt, to taste
1 small roast chicken, cooked and shredded
1 bunch kale, de-ribbed and cut thinly 

Biscuit Crumb Topping

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoon chopped sage
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup tablespoons whole milk 

Preheat the oven to 425°. In a large Dutch oven or enameled cast-iron casserole add olive oil and sauté onion, carrot, celery and mushroom over moderate heat, stirring, until the shallots and mushrooms are softened, about 8 minutes. Add the wine and “deglaze” scraping brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook the wine until completely evaporated, about 1 minute. 

Push all vegetables to the side and add butter to the open part of the pan. Stir in the 2-3 tablespoon of flour and whisk for a minute until the flour is slightly browned. Add the broth and whisk to eliminate all clumps, combine roux with vegetables and simmer until thick and creamy, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the chicken and kale. Leave in dutch oven or transfer to casserole dish.

In a food processor, combine biscuit flour with 4 tablespoons of butter and the chopped sage and zest, pulse slightly until butter is the size of peas. Add the milk; pulse just until a crumble forms.  

Place crumble over chicken in dutch oven or transfer dish and bake for 12-15 minutes until bubbly and biscuit is golden.