Recipe - Chicken And Dill Fricassee With Sour Cream Shortcakes

For the shortcake biscuits
1 Three fourths cup Allpurpose flour
2 teaspoon Doubleacting baking powder
One half teaspoon Baking soda
One half teaspoon Salt
One half teaspoon Sugar
2 tablespoon Finely chopped dill
4 tablespoon Cold vegetable shortening
2/3 cup Sour cream
One fourth cup Milk
For the fricassee
One fourth pound Mushrooms; cut or sliced up
One half Stick unsalted butter; (1/4
cup)
3 tablespoon Minced shallot
One fourth cup Allpurpose flour
3 cup Chicken broth
Three fourths cup Heavy cream
1 pack Frozen peas; (10 ounce)
thawed
1 tablespoon Fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Salt
2 One half tablespoon Finely chopped fresh dill
4 cup Bitesize pieces cooked
chicken
One fourth pound Cooked ham; cut into cubes
(about Three fourths cup)

Make the shortcake biscuits Into a bowl sift together the flour, the baking
powder, the baking soda, the salt, and the sugar. add the dill and the
shortening, and blend the mixture until it resembles meal. Stir in the sour
cream and the milk and stir the mixture until it just forms a soft but
sticky dough. On a floured surface roll or pat out the dough One half inch thick
and with a 3 1/2inch cookie cutter cut out 6 rounds. Bake the rounds on an
ungreased baking sheet in the middle of a preheated 425°F. oven for 15 to
17 minutes, or until they are golden.

Make the fricassee In a skillet cook the mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of the
butter over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until they give off their
liquid and reserve the mixture. In a large saucepan melt the remaining 3
tablespoons butter over moderate heat and in it cook the shallot until it
is softened. Add the flour and cook the roux, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add
the broth in a stream, stirring, and cook the mixture, stirring, for 5
minutes. Add the cream and boil the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 10
minutes. Add the peas, the lemon juice, the salt, the dill, the chicken,
the ham, the reserved mushroom mixture, and pepper to taste and simmer the
mixture for 10 minutes, or until the chicken is heated through.

Arrange a biscuit, heated and split, on each of the 6 dinner plates, spoon
some of the fricassee over the bottom half, and cover it with the top half
of the biscuit.

Serves 6.

Gourmet February 1990 Gastronomie sans Argent: Potpies and Savory
Shortcakes
Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #978 by shade liveoak@polaris.net on Jan 2,
1998