I try to keep cheap pantry staples on-hand so that I can shop my kitchen and not spend much at the grocery store. Here are the ingredients I had:
- Spicy country sausage - I buy this directly from a local sausage company in a 20-pound box, then cut it up and freeze it in 1- or 2-pound portions. I have a vacuum sealer from Cabela's so that I can buy cheap meats in bulk and freeze them for later.
- Flour - I use unbleached, all-purpose flour
- Milk - I use whole milk
- Baking powder - the kind with no aluminum
- Salt - table salt
- Butter - unsalted stick butter
- Rice - I had long-grain white rice
- Frozen mixed vegetables - I had some store-brand bags of frozen mixed vegetables (potatoes, carrots, peas, and green beans). The bags had about enough for two people/servings in them, so they aren't big bags.
- Cream of Chicken soup - store brand
Pot pie directions
- Get the desired amount of sausage (defrosted) and remove the sausage from its casing using a paring knife. Fry up the sausage, breaking it up into very small clumps like for ground beef. When it's cooked to my liking, I use a slotted spoon to remove it from the pan and put it on a paper towel-covered plate to drain.
- Using either a rice cooker or a pan, cook the white rice. Cook enough to complement the sausage and cream of chicken, but not enough to overwhelm the dish.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Prepare the batter (I modifed a cobbler recipe I found on Allrecipes.com):
a) 2 cups flour
b) 4 teaspoons baking powder
c) 1/4 teaspoon salt
d) 1/2 cup butter
e) 1 cup milk
f) sugar and allspice to taste (I like to contrast the savory and spicy flavors with a tiny bit of sweetness) - Take a stick of butter and rub it on the bottom and sides of a baking dish. I use a 9 x 9" Pyrex casserole dish.
- Dump half of the batter into the baking dish.
- Mix the sausage, cooked rice, a can of cream of chicken soup, and one small bag of frozen vegetables together in a big bowl. I actually had about 1 1/2 cups too much of vegetables--I probably cooked too much rice.
- Pour the filling over batter in the baking dish. Pour the other half of the batter over the filling.
- Bake for 30 - 45 minutes, depending on your oven. I can tell it's close to being done when the smell spreads through the house.
If you only want batter on the bottom, just half the batter recipe. Maybe you can spread sprinkled cheese on the top instead of batter. I recommend letting it cool some before cutting it and removing it with a spatula.
#recipe #food #countryfood #cheapfood