Two American Classics (Pot Roast & Chicken and Dumplings):

When I lived overseas, one of the most interesting questions that came up was always, "What is American food?" When you think about it, Italian, French, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, German, all of these different ethnic cuisines are pretty easy to identify. But, what's American? We eat all of the above cuisines withouth thinking about it and have "Americanized" versions of them all. The question, though, of what's truly American was always an interesting one for me to think about. The easiest answers are barbecue, for which there is clearly not a non-Americ

an alternative, and Thanksgiving dinner. A little thought, though, and a few other things come to mind: fried catfish, hushpuppies/cornbread, crabcakes, etc.

This weekend, though, I had in mind to make a good old-fashioned pot roast for Mina. She'd never had it, and with the weather turning colder it seemed like just the ticket. Unfortunately, she was feeling kind of sick on Saturday, so I didn't get to the supermarket until a little later on Saturday than I usually do. Without 4 hours to do the pot roast, I had to come up with something on the fly, and decided on another great American dish: Chicken and Dumplings. I'd actually never made it before, but it was simple, and a fantastic stick to your ribs kind of meal.

I had 4 chicken thighs that I salted and peppered and then roasted in the oven at 375 F for about 45 minutes. In the meantime, I sauteed some onion in butter and then added flour to make a roux. In went some carrot and celery along with some herbs (sage and rosemary) and some chicken stock and white wine. Once the stew had formed, the chicken went back in. The dumplings were just bisquik and milk (the basic recipe for biscuits). I just dropped balls of the dough into the stew and let them steam to finish.

Sunday, I had time to do the pot roast, so just braised it in my crock pot. When the meat was falling apart tender, I strained the cooking liquid and reduced it by 2/3. Right at the end I mixed in a little heavy cream to make a fantasic pan sauce/gravy.

These two dishes were examples of classic, simple, American food. Not too heavy, but hearty. Hopefully Mina liked them, and hopefully the pictures do them justice.