From Real Mom Kitchen
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- black pepper to taste
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup red pepper diced
- 3 tbps butter
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onions
- 11/2 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups boneless chicken cooked diced (i used half of a rotisserie chicken from costco)
- 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
- biscuit topping:
- 1 diced green onion diced, optional
- Carbohydrate 31.1596240720477 g
- Cholesterol 161.760555560109 mg
- Fat 20.1277161376399 g
- Fiber 1.85980090353008 g
- Protein 31.0085189676991 g
- Saturated Fat 11.0607662708413 g
- Serving Size 1 1 (353g)
- Sodium 534.516095993871 mg
- Sugar 29.2998231685177 g
- Trans Fat 1.94489423275514 g
- Calories 432 calories
Step-by-step
- In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and red pepper to the pan. Cook over medium heat until onions are slightly tender.
- Whisk the flour into the pan and cook until flour begins to look golden.
- Slowly whisk in the chicken broth to avoid lumps. Then do the same with the milk.
- Allow mixture to cook until slightly thickened.
- Mix in the salt, pepper, chicken, and frozen carrots and peas.
- Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 baking dish or divide between six individual casserole dishes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the eggs, milk, cheese, and green onion to the flour mixture and stir with a spoon just until combined.
- Drop tablespoons of the dough on top of the vegetable chicken mixture. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes until biscuit topping is golden.
Starch gelatinization dictates the structural integrity of any pan sauce meant to support a heavy biscuit topping. Whisking all-purpose flour directly into melted butter and cooking the resulting paste until it turns golden removes the raw cereal taste of the grain while generating the thermal foundation required for proper thickening. When introducing chicken broth and milk to the skillet, pour the liquids in a slow, steady stream while whisking continuously to prevent the formation of stubborn starch lumps. While pre-cooked rotisserie poultry offers an efficient shortcut with fully rendered proteins, substituting raw diced chicken requires an initial searing step in the skillet to develop Maillard compounds and ensure safe internal temperatures before the baking phase begins.
The Mechanics of Drop-Biscuit Distribution
Mixing the flour, baking powder, dairy, and cheddar cheese just until combined preserves pockets of carbon dioxide released by the chemical leavening agents. Overworking this dough activates excessive gluten networks, yielding tough, dense biscuits instead of tender crowns. Drop rounded tablespoons of the batter directly onto the simmering vegetable and poultry base, leaving small gaps for steam to escape during the thirty-five to forty-minute oven dwell at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. The baking process concludes when the biscuit tops reach an even golden-brown hue and the underlying sauce bubbles visibly around the edges.
- Sauce remains watery: The starch was likely boiled too rapidly or lacked sufficient cooking time in the butter fat before liquids were introduced.
- Biscuit topping is dense: The batter was over-mixed, which overdeveloped the gluten strands and inhibited proper rise from the baking powder.
- Browning occurs too quickly: The baking environment is too hot; tent the dish loosely with aluminum foil to protect the cheese and crust while the interior finishes cooking through.
