About a decade ago my mom got a recipe from a friend called “chicken zigafoos.” These absurdly named dinner pastries have been a big hit in the family since then. So what, exactly, is a chicken zigafoo? Well, it’s kind of like a fat kid chicken pot pie. With gravy. To really get the full effect of the chicken zigafoo I highly recommend pairing it with homemade chicken gravy and my mashed potatoes recipe. What follows is a step-by-step manual for making this delicious dinner.

Chicken Zigafoos

Ingredients

• 2 healthy sized chicken breasts without skin.
• 1 red onion.
• Some celery.
• 2 chicken bullion cubes.
• Salt, pepper, garlic powder.
• 2 8oz packages of cream cheese.
• 3 packages of croissant rolls. In the US, Pillsbury has apparently decided Americans are too stupid to pronounce or spell croissant so they go by, I shit you not, “crescent” rolls.
• 1 stick of melted butter.
• 3 tablespoons of milk.

Instructions

• Cut up about 1/4 cup of celery and red inion (or shallots or white onion or whatever) and put it into a glass casserole dish with the chicken breasts.
• Add the chicken bullion cubes and seasoning as you wish.
• Add two cups of water to the casserole dish. Be sure to save this for your chicken gravy!
• Bake in the oven for an hour at 350F (177C).
• Take the chicken out and shred it.
• Strain the celery and onion out of the chicken stock into a sauce pan. Add the celery and onion to a bowl with the shredded chicken.
• Add the melted butter, milk, and cream cheese to the bowl and mix thoroughly into a cream cheese and chicken paste of sorts.
• Roll out the croissant/crescent rolls out flat. You’ll notice they’re notched into four squares that are notched into two triangles each. Use two triangles (one square) for each zigafoo. Pinch the notching of the two triangles together so you get four rough squares. Add a large dollop (1/4 cup or so) of zigafoo innards to the middle of the square and then pinch up the four corners over the top of the dollop.
• Bake on a cookie sheet per the instructions on the croissant roll packaging (usually 375F for 13-15 minutes).
• Place onto a large serving plate for serving.

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

• 4 large russet potatoes.
• A cup of sour cream.
• 6 tablespoons of butter.
• 2 chicken bullion cubes.

Instructions

• Peel the potatoes. Leave a little skin on if you like.
• Cut the potatoes into small squares (1” x 1” or smaller).
• Throw the cut up potatoes into a pot and add water until the potatoes become buoyant in the pot.
• Add the chicken bullion cubes to the water and heat the pot until the water starts to boil. Boil the potatoes for a minimum of 10 minutes. Test with a fork to ensure potatoes are soft enough to easily mash.
• Strain water out of potatoes.
• Add butter and sour cream to pot and pour the boiled potato cubes on top. Season as preferred with salt and pepper.
• Mix and mash to your preferred texture.
• Dump the mashed potatoes into a bowl for serving.

Chicken Gravy

Ingredients

• Chicken stock leftover from the chicken zigafoos.
• 2 tablespoons of corn starch.
• 1/2 cup of water.

Instructions

• Add the chicken stock to a sauce pan and bring to a boil.
• Mix the corn starch with the water until the corn starch is thoroughly dissolved into the water with no clumps.
• Slowly add the corn start/water mixture to the boiling chicken stock one teaspoon or so at a time. Mix thoroughly into the chicken stock before adding more.
• Once done pouring into the stock, boil the gravy for about a minute.
• Pour into a gravy dish for serving.

That’s about it. I highly recommend putting a zigafoo or two on your plate, a healthy helping of mashed potatoes next to that, and then cover the whole thing in chicken gravy. You’ll thank me later.