Boston Globe Review: Harrows Chicken Pies

Photos by Shirley Goh/Globe Staff

If you live in Greater Boston, you've probably heard of Harrows.  The local chain has opened its first location south of Boston.  I'd heard about its chicken pies, and that they were "just different" from other pot pies.  And I set out to find out how.

Find out what I thought at: http://bo.st/12waZ45

Chicken Chile Relleno Pies

You want these.  They're among the best things I've made all year.  These Chicken Chile Relleno Pies are made of a cornmeal dough that's wonderfully sandy and a bit crumbly, and filled with roasted poblanos, chicken, cheese, and corn.  The ingredients, rather than standing out individually, all melt together into delicious, savory mouthfuls.  The poblanos and ancho chile powder heat it up with Southwest flavor.

The pies are admittedly labor-intensive and time-consuming, but you won't regret it.  Double the cornmeal dough recipe, which yielded only enough dough for me to use half of the filling.  Set aside time to make them all, then freeze and reheat to snack on whenever.  They would make a good potluck contribution, but if you're like me you'll hoard just about all of them.  This is the kind of comfort food you'll want to warm yourself up with all winter.

Hainan Chicken Rice

We ate lots of Hainan Ji Fan when I was growing up.  This poached chicken dish originates from Hainan, an island in China just south of the mainland where my grandparents are from.  It's also a popular dish in Singapore and Malaysia, where my parents were born.  And my mom continues to make it in her New York kitchen, where she taught it to me on a Mother's Day weekend visit.  The best part is the rice.  After the chicken is poached, the water essentially becomes chicken stock, and that liquid is used to infuse the rice, making it flavorful and rich.  If you have homemade chicken stock on hand, substitute it for some of the water for more potent chicken flavor.  The rice is also imbued with garlic and a hint of ginger.

This is how Mom rolls.  I don't have a problem with the head, but I have no use for it either.
So I bought the usual supermarket variety.

The poached chicken may be too simple for those used to loud flavors, but soy sauce and hot sauce are served on the side and my dad always partook.  He's always been proud of his Singapore-grown tolerance for heat, but by contrast I've only graduated to mild.  Yes, I said graduated.  Hainan Chicken Rice is also Singapore's national dish.

My parents, brother, paternal grandparents, and my twin sister and me.  Once again, not sure which runt I am.

One of my earliest memories includes this dish.  I had peeled off some chicken skin -- which I love when roasted and crispy but not when poached and soft -- just as my mother often instructed me to because it's healthier that way.  And my paternal grandmother, who was born a peasant in Hainan and was not into waste one bit, objected, pushing me to eat the skin.  "Eat it!  Go ahead, eat it!" she said, as my mother told me, "Don't do it!  It's not good for you!"  Whom to obey, mother or grandmother?  I think it must have been my mother.  Their reactions summed up their food philosophies, and the memory still makes me chuckle.

My twin sister with her daughter, Audrey, on Mother's Day weekend.

And this time a new generation of the family was introduced to Hainan Ji Fan.  My 16-month-old niece, Audrey, was a big fan.  I also decided she's now officially a Chinese lady.  When she would act up, my mother would chide her, saying, "Aiya!"  And Audrey, in a world-weary yet babyish voice, would sigh in echo, "Aiiyaaa!"

What are some of your quintessential family recipes?

Chipotle Chicken and Rice

This dish has gone through several incarnations, but its origins were in a dish called Pollo Estofado.  I liked this chicken and rice dish from my sister's ex, and made some changes for convenience and personal taste.  He served rice on the side in addition to potatoes in the dish; I was looking to avoid carb overload so I threw out the potatoes, and decided the green bell peppers should go too.  In the end, I browned the chicken with aromatics, then cooked the rice in the same saute pan -- the chicken ends up infusing the rice with its flavor.  Frozen peas are stirred in at the end and warmed through, adding a bright green.

But now I have one more revision.  Inspired by a similar Martha Stewart recipe I saw online that looked hopelessly fussy, I added chipotles to my dish for added flavor and heat.  The two chipotles made the spice level barely warm, so I would use four next time.  Point of reference: I'm a spice wimp, so if you like it hot you may want to amp it up with even more chiles.

Chicken Stir-Fry with Snow Peas

"How did you make that chicken??"  Joe insisted on knowing.  He couldn't stop talking about how tender and juicy and perfectly cooked it was.  I had just thrown some ingredients in the fridge together as a stir-fry, and he loved it.  "Is it dark-meat chicken?  Thighs?"  No.  "Then what did you do to it?"

I had fun drawing out the suspense.  I had just taken chicken breasts, cut them up, and marinated them for a few minutes in soy sauce, cornstarch, rice wine vinegar, and a bit of baking soda.  A later conversation with my mother revealed that restaurants use the baking soda to tenderize beef, not chicken; egg white is used for chicken.  Whatever, Mom, it works.  No, you won't taste the baking soda, and I wouldn't be worried about consuming it -- it's in baked goods all the time.  Worth noting: I like this brand of oyster sauce because it has no MSG.

Kind of worth noting: I have childhood memories of my mom seating me in front of piles of snow peas and having me peel off that tendril at the top and down the side.  It annoyed me as a kid, especially since I hated vegetables until college, but I smile to think of it now.

My other guess as to why the chicken turned out so well is that I always try not to overcook meat.  I think people get so afraid of undercooking meat that they dry it out and toughen it, and I cooked the chicken just until it was done.

Throw in some garlic and slightly crunchy snow peas, and you've got a delicious and healthy dinner.  And a Joe who won't stop eating the chicken when you try to photograph a blog post.

Crispy Fried Chicken

You may recall my first post on Fried Chicken ages ago (three years!!), and it was a good recipe.  But I recently saw another on TV that intrigued me: the usual chicken coating of flour was blended with cornmeal and double-dredged to intensify the crunch factor, and would still be crispy later in the day if you wanted to take it to a picnic.

I skipped most of the brining instructions, and simplified it to an hour's soak of cold water with some salt.  Still came out very juicy.  I can vouch for the extra crunchy/crispy factor, but I don't know about hours later; we ate them right away, and the next day out of the fridge they were no longer crunchy but crisped up again in the toaster oven.  I think I've got a new favorite recipe, or maybe just for the next three years.

Satay!

I think this satay would make my Malaysia-born mom proud.  I love ordering it in restaurants, dipping the perfectly grilled strips of meat into a peanut sauce.  The recipe calls for chicken, but my red meat-lover self used beef; both are common.  The sauce takes some time to put together but is great and complex, not like those flat, sugary peanut sauces you find in chain restaurants.

Some of the ingredients, like tamarind, were unusual for me, but don't let that put you off.  Despite my heritage I don't cook a lot of Malaysian, Singaporean, or Chinese food, since I learned to cook on my own rather than from my mom.  But I've been picking up a dish here and there, and getting less intimidated with each one.

One other minor note: some of the recipe instructions tell you to process ingredients to a smooth paste, but don't knock yourself out.  Ginger and lemongrass are very fibrous, so my spice paste was a bit chunky and stringy.  In the end, though, it all smells great on the grill.

Homemade Fried Chicken

Sometimes you just get the craving for fried chicken, and not the drive-through kind. After doing some reading on the subject matter, I threw together a simple enough flour mixture, though I admit there was a second try for some tweaking. Serve it with some mashed potatoes or biscuits, and one obligatory healthy side, and you're in heaven.

One other note: a thermometer is necessary. It takes longer than you'd think to get the oil up to temperature, and the oil needs to be hot enough and the chicken cooked long enough to get the perfect browning outside and doneness inside. A candy thermometer works great for this. I also have a deep fryer, but I find I like my enameled cast iron dutch oven better.

• About 9 chicken thighs, wings, and drumsticks
  
• 1 cup buttermilk or 1 egg plus 1 cup milk
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1 tbs baking powder
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1 tsp black pepper
  
• ½ tsp ground cayenne pepper
  
• Enough oil to fill half of a large dutch oven

1. Start heating your oil to 360º (the temperature will drop to about 350º when you add the chicken, which is where you want to keep the temp). It may take more than 10 minutes to heat up.
2. Trim the skin off the drumsticks and thighs, if you'd like. Place all the chicken in a bowl filled with the buttermilk, or the egg and milk. In a shallow bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and peppers. Dredge the chicken pieces through the flour mixture and set aside.
3. When the oil comes to temperature, add your chicken pieces. Don't overcrowd the pot or they won't cook evenly; 4-5 pieces at a time is best. Cook the chicken for about 13 minutes, turning the pieces halfway through the cooking time with a handheld brass strainer like the one in the picture. The chicken should be about the color in the photo. Drain the chicken on paper towels and pat dry, and serve.