Buttermilk Corn Bread Waffles

I'd been thinking about corn bread several times over the last few weeks, but hadn't really had anything lined up in the menu that sounded good with corn bread.  But when Justin took all of the Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits to work with him this morning, it didn't leave us with anything to eat with our leftover chicken pot pie filling.   My first instinct was to just bake some corn bread, but as I was whipping up a batter, I decided some crispy waffles sounded way better.

VERY COOL NOTE:  I actually learned something cool and healthy as I was making these - you can use ground up flax seeds mixed with water to substitute eggs!  My recipe requires 2 eggs and of course, midway through making the recipe with all my dry ingredients mixed, I realized I only had 1 egg in the fridge.  I figured I could use a little extra butter to kind of substitute it, and after Googling, that is an option, but another option I found sounded way cooler.  1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons water substitutes 1 egg... thank you very much, vegans!  It's probably not a good substitute for most people because I imagine most people don't keep flax seeds on hand.  We, however, often have some in our freezer for making granola.
(This site I found has a list of 5 Egg Substitutes - great resource!)

I also recognize that most people don't keep buttermilk in their fridge like we do.  You could make this recipe with whole milk, but you have to do a little more adjusting than just that.  Do not use baking soda, but instead add 2 additional teaspoons of baking powder for a total of 3 teaspoons.  Buttermilk has a higher acid content and needs the baking soda in baking applications.  It's science... you heard?

I'm listening to Lagwagon's "Razor Burn" as I am typing this sentence, so that's the rock I'm going with.  -jen

BUTTERMILK CORN BREAD WAFFLES
Prep Time:  10 minutes
Cook Time:  25-30 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  5-6 waffles

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup flour
• 4 tablespoons sugar (2 tbsp if you like your corn bread less sweet)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten (or 2 tbsp ground flax seeds mixed with 6 tbsp water)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted (or melted coconut oil)

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking power, baking soda and salt.

In a small mixing bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs and melted butter.  Create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients all at once.  Mix just until all dry ingredients are combined.  Spoon into waffle maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions.  (Mine cooked in 5 minutes.)

Note:  If you wanted to just bake corn bread using this recipe, just grease a square (9"x9") baking dish, pour in batter and bake in an oven preheated to 400 F for 15-20 minutes.

Served with chicken pot pie filling

Buttermilk Biscuit Chicken Pot Pies

Crossing biscuits and gravy with chicken pot pies!  Our deconstructed pot pie?  Or our open-faced pot pie?  Whatever it is, it's freaking delicious.

Justin had been wanting to do pot pies recently; the traditional kind with a pie crust.  We even bought a perfect sized ramekin to make a family-size one in.  But... he's been on another Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuit kick and made such a perfect, huge batch.  We'd recently seen some traveling food show where a restaurant was known for their chicken pot pie biscuits and gravy and we both drooled on ourselves a little when we saw it.  We had the biscuits, we had the chicken, we had most of the vegetables... it was on!

I just roasted some seasoned chicken thighs at 425 degrees F for 30 minutes.  I leave the skin on while cooking and it comes out ridiculously crispy, like cracklins or chicharrones.  Then I removed it before pulling the meat off the bone.  I'm not going to lie... I ate 2 of the skins straight up and felt guilt.  Massive, delicious guilt.  I just threw the remaining skins into our freezer bag of broth-makin' scraps, but I kind of wish I'd kept one of the super crispy ones to chop up and sprinkle on top of the plated biscuit pot pies.

The potatoes I cooked real quick while I was chopping up and sauteing the veggies, it doesn't take too long to cook them.  The instructions are below.

This recipe makes a large amount of gravy/pot pie filling.  If it's more than you want, you can always freeze it.  Or just cut the recipe in half.  Or make somebody's day by sharing it with them... that's what we did.  Justin took most of the batch to work to share with his coworkers since it's just the two of us at home.

Going back a little ways with some Stiff Little Fingers doing "Straw Dogs".

BUTTERMILK BISCUIT CHICKEN POT PIES
Time:  about 35 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  about 10 cups (10 servings - large batch!)

• 12 tablespoons butter (1.5 sticks)
• 2 cups carrots, diced 1/2" (about 3 medium)
• 1.5 cup celery, diced 1/2" (about 2 stalks)
• 1.5 cup onion, diced 1/2" (about 1 medium)
• 1.5 cups crimini mushrooms, diced 
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (optional for colour)
• 3/4 cup flour
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups potatoes (about 1 medium), diced 1/2" and cooked (see How To below)
• 1 cup peas, frozen
• 3 cups cooked chicken, cubed 1/2" (about 4 thighs or 3 breasts)
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1/4 cup packed basil, chopped
• salt to taste
• Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits (see recipe here)

In a large skillet or stock pot (that holds at least 4 quarts), melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add carrots and celery, cook about 5 minutes.  Add onion and mushrooms, cook 3-4 minutes until onions are translucent.  Add sage, black pepper and turmeric, cook 1 minute.  Add flour and stir until incorporated, cook 3-4 minutes.  Pour in chicken broth and whisk until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Turn heat to medium and stir in heavy cream, potatoes, peas, chicken, hot sauce and basil.  Add salt to taste and serve over Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits.

How To Boil Potatoes
Dice potato into 1/2" cubes.  Place potatoes in a large pot.  Add cold water to cover 1" above the potatoes.  Add a generous amount of salt.  Bring to a boil and cook about 6 minutes.  Potatoes should be cooked through but still firm.

Chicken In Gravy Over Barley

A few weeks ago, the idea for this meal came to mind... I don't even remember why.  But it's one of those delicious southern comfort foods.  I originally was going to put it over white rice... but the fact is, we really prefer barley over rice.  I think I've mentioned that before.  And it went real well with this chicken in gravy.  It was actually quite fast to make tonight because we'd baked 8 chicken thighs the night before.  So I just used the leftover chicken for this.  It'd actually double just fine for a potpie filling, too!  Or over biscuits if you wanted to get real southern!

Man, I put this song on a comp a few weeks ago for our work commutes... and the song just won't get out of my head!  I was a fan of the original... but this version is so, so much better.  Down By Law covering "500 Miles". -jen aka zigzag, heheh

HERBED BARLEY
Time:  40 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Servings:  4-6

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups barley
• 3 cups water
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1.5 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3/4 a teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add barley and stir to coat.  Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring until the barley smells toasty.  Add water, soy sauce, sage, thyme, coriander and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and turn heat to low.  Simmer for 35 minutes.  (Do not lift lid or stir!)  Remove from heat and let rest 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork.  You can make the chicken gravy in about the same amount of time it takes the barley to cook.

CHICKEN IN GRAVY
Time:  25 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy-Medium
Servings:  4-6

• 3 tablespoons chicken fat (if your chicken didn't render this much, use butter for remainder)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 medium carrots, diced
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 1/2 a medium onion, diced
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups chicken broth (or 3 cups of water with chicken bouillon cubes or chicken base)
• 2 teaspoons dried rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon fresh or dried chives
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt to taste (some chicken broths are saltier than others)
• meat of 4 baked chicken thighs, shredded (see below for baking instructions)

In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat chicken fat and butter.  Add carrots, celery and onion.  Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.  Carrots should be fork-tender, meaning a fork slides easily into them.  Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and stir until absorbed, cook for 2-3 minutes.  Whisk (using an actual whisk!) in chicken broth, sage, thyme, chives, the three peppers and salt, if needed.  Continue whisking until gravy has thickened to desired consistency, turn heat to low, add the shredded chicken and cook for a few minutes until chicken is warmed.  Serve over herbed barley.  (Or use for the inside of a potpie!)

BAKED CHICKEN THIGHS
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

• 4 medium chicken thighs, skin on
• choice of seasoning (salt & pepper if nothing else)
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, F.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (simply for ease of clean-up) and drizzle foil lightly with olive oil.

Season the bottoms of the chicken thighs, the place face-up on pan.  Lift skin from meat and season both under the skin and over the skin.  Bake at 450 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Chicken should be at 165 degrees, and juices should run clear.  If cooking the gravy recipe above, then reserve the chicken fat!

Wild American Shrimp Etouffee

My grandma and your grandma we're sitting by the fire...  So, lately, I've been wanting to do some southern-style cooking and the other day something reminded me of a commercial that was running on TV right after hurricane Katrina.  Jen and I always loved it because the one we had seen locally actually used the words, "All up in your etouffeé."  The video I found online is a bit shorter and says, "Right there in your etoufeé" instead but the point is that it inspired me to do some Cajun cookin and I decided on shrimp etouffeé.  I used a pearled barley in place of the rice, as Jen and I prefer it, but you could use anything you want since etouffeé is just a French word that means "smothered".  Smother whatever you wish!

Since the dish was inspired by wild American shrimpers, I figured it would only be apropos to accompany the dish with some Dead Kennedy's "Holiday in Cambodia".  Why, you might ask?  Because of some connective process by which one has to be aware that the biggest competition for wild American shrimpers is Southeast Asian shrimpers.  And Holiday in Cambodia seemed fitting.  If you read the next recipe post, I'll show you how to get from The Dead Kennedy's to Kevin Bacon in under three moves.  -  justin

Shrimp Etouffee

• 3 cups water
• 3 tbsp salt
• 2 cups pearled barley
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp dried sweet basil leaves
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh pepper (Bell, Anaheim, Poblano) - I used poblano
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups seafood stock 
• 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
• 2 lbs peeled, de-veined shrimp
• 1 cup finely chopped scallions

Bring the water and 3 tbsp of salt to a boil over high heat in a saucepan and add the pearled barley.  When it returns to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and let cook for 30 minutes.  No lifting the lid!  After 30 minutes, set aside to cool.  This can be made far in advance if desired.

Thoroughly mix the salt, cayenne, white and black peppers, sweet basil and thyme and set aside.  In a separate bowl combine the onion, celery, and fresh peppers. 

In a large skillet (preferably cast iron), heat the oil over high heat until it just stars to smoke, around 4 minutes or so.  Mix in the flour gradually, stirring with a whisk until the mixture is smooth and continue cooking over high heat, whisking constantly, until the roux is a dark reddish-brown color, about 3-5 minutes.

Remove from heat as soon as you are at the desired color and immediately add the chopped vegetables and 1 tbsp of the seasoning mix.  Stir in with a wooden spoon and continue stirring until the roux has cooled, approximately 5 minutes or so.  The idea is to stop it from cooking or the residual heat will carry it far beyond where you intend, even burning your roux after it's been removed from the heat.

In a 3 quart saucepan bring 2 cups of the seafood stock to a boil over high heat.  Add the roux in increments, making sure to completely dissolve it before adding the next bit.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes while continuing to whisk.  Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large saucepan or stockpot, melt 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), over medium heat.  Stir in the shrimp and green onions.  Sauté for a minute or two, stirring constantly.  Add the remaining stick of butter, the last cup of seafood stock, and the stock/roux mixture.  Cook until the butter melts into the sauce, about 5 minutes, constantly shaking the pan in a circular motion over the heat, rather than stirring*.  Add at least 1 tbsp of the remaining seasoning mix and stir it in.  There should be 3 tbsp left and I used 2 for some spicy zip!

Serve over rice, or barley, and enjoy with a tall glass of iced tea or a cold, dark beer.

*A note on shaking the pot as opposed to stirring.  There are scientific reasons as to why this is a better way to combine butter in a sauce over medium heat instead of stirring but I don't know them.  What I do know is that it helps the oils released from the melting butter to better incorporate in the sauce than stirring does.  It works.  It just does.  If your sauce comes out looking oily or separated, add 2 more tbsp of stock or water and shake the pot for a couple minutes and the sauce will blend.

Sausage Gravy

Biscuits and gravy is not entirely uncommon in our house.  It was one of my favourite meals that we had when I was a kid.  My mom's father was from Tennessee and she spent summers there as a kid, watching the women cook giant Southern meals from morning until night.  When I was younger and there were four of us kids to feed, money was tight, so we had a version of Shit On A Shingle that was made with Buddig's beef lunch meat all chopped up in it, over Bisquick drop biscuits.  I loved it.  Once I got older and the older boys had moved out, my dad started making his gravy with sausage, which needless to say, was much better.  Growing up in California, Justin says he never even heard of "biscuits and gravy" as a kid until he'd joined the army at 17 and was introduced to their version of S.O.S.  But once I moved in with him, it became a more regular meal in our home... breakfast, dinner, it didn't matter.

Today, we decided to change it up.  Instead of our regular, quick Bisquick drop biscuits, Justin the Mighty and Awesome Baker I made some old school Southern biscuits... made with lard and rolled out on the counter top.  They came out so-so.  I'll post how I did the recipe, and though they weren't bad, they were kind of small and needed something else, so it's a work in progress until I get it right.  And instead of making my basic sausage gravy, I tried a few new things and am definitely happy with the results!  I always just ground the breakfast sausage up and no matter how much I tried chopping it up with the wooden spoon in the pan, or adding water while cooking, it stayed pretty chunky and I just wanted to get it a little finer for the gravy.  So I threw it into the food processor after it was cooked.  Perfect!  Also, been on a bit of a shallot kick, so added that to the gravy, as well as some Gruyere cheese just to be experimental.  It kicks ass!  I really wanted to make my own breakfast sausage, but it was getting late when I started cooking, so I just bought some Jimmy Dean sausage and spiced it up.  Here it is... guaranteed to cause a heart attack... our version of Biscuits and Gravy!

For music, well... that was pretty easy.  B&G make me think of my mom's family, from Tennessee.  Tennessee makes me think of Nashville and Memphis.  Those towns make me think of rockabilly music, which led me straight to psychobilly and The Reverend.  -jen

SAUSAGE GRAVY

• 2 pounds breakfast sausage
• 2 teaspoons rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• couple dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 2 large shallots, diced fine
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Caldo de Pollo (or chicken bouillon)
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on taste)
• dash of hot sauce
• 1/2 gallon of whole milk
• 1.5 cups Gruyere cheese, shredded fine

In a bowl, mix sausage with sage, 1 teaspoon thyme, marjoram, celery salt, red pepper flakes and Worcestershire sauce.  In a large skillet on medium-high heat, cook sausage until all pink is gone.  Set aside to cool.  Once cool, place in food processor and pulse until crumbled to desire size.

In a large skillet, on medium-high heat, sautee shallots and butter until shallots are tender.  Add flour and whisk until smooth, making a roux.  Cook, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes.  While whisking, add milk and bring to a boil while continuing to whisk to break up any lumps.  Once boiling, turn heat to medium and add Gruyere in small handfuls, whisking until cheese is fully incorporated in sauce before adding next handful.  When cheese is fully melted in sauce, stir in the sausage and serve.

For the biscuits, I used Paula Deen's recipe, only I switched up the butter with lard, and the milk with buttermilk.  Like I said... they were definitely edible!  But I think I rolled out the dough a little thin and the flavour was missing something.  So I'm going to tweek it a few times and see what I can come up with.

Pork Steaks with Mushroom and Onion Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

I've always loved Salisbury steaks... the crappy TV dinner kind, the school cafeteria kind, the greasy diner kind. They're usually made with ground beef or cubed steak.  Well, we had some pre-tenderized pork steaks we'd been buying lately that were like cube steaks, and they've been a fast, tasty fix for nights we haven't felt like cooking.  Recently, we've had some sitting in our freezer and rather than breading and frying them like we usually do (delicious!), I thought I'd try something that "fancied" them up a little, but wasn't a pain in the ass to cook.  And this is the recipe I came up with!  It looks like a lot of ingredients, but don't let it scare you, it's really fast to make.  Basically you're just throwing some onions and mushrooms in a pan with flour and broth, then making a quick dry rub and broiling the steaks for 8 minutes.  Super basic, cheap, and some serious home style comfort food. 

Having come up with the recipe, I had to decide what kind of music I wanted to listen to while cooking.  It seemed like it was a bit of a Southern dish, but I just wasn't in a real hard, punk rock mood.  Instead, I did a little 90's flash back to some good, southern alt-rock: The Toadies.  I know, I know, we said this was a punk rock cooking blog.  But we listen to a LOT of different kinds of music, and we cook a whole lot, so sometimes we're just going to have to mix it up a little.  The Toadies never fail to bring some messed up, dark, Southern imagery to mind... creeping kudzu, old plantation houses, old dark family secrets, people mentally and emotionally (and sometimes physically) tortured by generations of fucked up bible thumping... oh yeah, and gravy!  So here is one of my favourite Toadies songs, "Away".  -jen

PORK STEAKS WITH MUSHROOM AND ONION GRAVY

• 3 tablespoons olive oil (plus additional oil for drizzling)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large yellow or white onion, julienned
• 1 pound white mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1-1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1-1/2 cups beef broth
• 2 tablespoons dry Sherry
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce (depending on how spicy you want it)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 large pork steaks, tenderized (we bought ours pre-tenderized, like cube steak)

Seasoning Mix:

• 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

In a large skillet with straight sides, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter on medium-high heat.  Add onions and mushrooms, tossing to coat with oil and butter.  (The pan's going to look too full, but it'll all cook down.)  Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent and mushrooms are tender.  Add garlic, Italian seasoning, thyme, Worcestershire and soy sauce, cooking another 3-5 minutes.  Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir in until completely absorbed, cooking about 3-5 minutes.  Add chicken and beef broth all at once and stir quickly in order to avoid lumps in your gravy.  Bring to a boil, and then simmer until gravy has thickened.  Add Sherry, Sriracha and salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside on very low simmer, stirring occasionally to make sure gravy isn't sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Meanwhile, turn oven to broil.  Mix together all of the ingredients for the seasoning mix.  Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil.  Pat pork steaks dry and lay over olive oil on one side, then flip to the other side so both sides are coated with a small amount of oil.  Season both sides of steaks with seasoning mix to taste (you'll probably use 3-4 teaspoons of the mix in total).  Leftover seasoning mix can be stored in airtight container for future use!  Broil steaks on one side for about 5 minutes.  Flip and broil an additional 2-3 minutes.  Serve smothered in onion and mushroom gravy.  We used homemade mashed potatoes, but concurred that egg noodles or rice would also be delicious.

MASHED POTATOES
Serves 4

• 3 large baking potatoes
• salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• pepper to taste

Bring well salted water to boil in large pan.  Peel 1/2 of the potatoes (and scrub skin of the unpeeled ones clean).  Dice into 2" cubes.  Carefully put into boiling water and cook until they're fork-tender (about 12-15 minutes, fork should slide in easily).  Remove from heat and drain.  In a large bowl, combine potatoes, butter, and milk.  Mash with a hand masher until all ingredients are well mixed (butter will melt from the heat of the potatoes).  Add pepper to taste.

(We're really trying to work on our plating techniques... so we thought we'd each try a plate.)

Mexican Chicken Phyllo Rolls (Homemade Hot Pocket)

I'm not sure what my inspiration was for this recipe.  Justin had chicken thighs thawed and we had most of the items on hand.  It sounded like a delicious mix of Mexican, Greek, and American influences.  I imagine most food critics or trained chefs would be appalled by this combination, but it came out to be a delicious, soul-warming homemade Hot Pocket!  I was a little leery about making and using the gravy in this, but after tasting it, I have no regrets!  Imagine crossing a chicken pot pie with chicken enchiladas and wrapping it all up in some crispy, Greek phyllo dough!  Play list while cooking consisted of the Operation Ivy Pandora station - Some Op Ivy, Rancid, Goldfinger, Descendents, The Slackers.  -Jen

MEXICAN CHICKEN PHYLLO ROLLS (HOMEMADE HOT POCKETS)
Makes about 6 phyllo rolls

• frozen phyllo dough, thawed (requires appx 8 hours thawing, follow instructions on box)
• 1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes
• 5 chicken thighs, with skin and bone
• 3 teaspoons seasoning mix, divided (see recipe below)
• 1 can (4oz) chopped green chiles
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
•  2 teaspoons garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon, plus extra green Tabasco hot sauce
• 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/2 to 1 cup chicken broth, as needed
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 egg (and 1 tablespoon water)

Seasoning Mix   

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pasilla chile powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground New Mexico chile powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground California chile powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

Mix spices together.

Place a small strainer over a bowl and empty can of tomatoes into strainer.  Toss with 1 teaspoon of salt and set aside to drain.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Lightly grease the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil.  Place chicken thighs in baking dish and sprinkle with 1-2 teaspoons of seasoning mix.  Bake at 450 for 25-30 minutes, until juices run clear.  Remove from oven and using tongs, place chicken thighs on a plate to cool and set aside.  Carefully pour the remaining chicken juice and fat from the baking pan into a bowl and refrigerate.

When chicken is cooled, remove skin and discard.  Pull the meat from the bone and place into a bowl.  Using two forks, shred chicken meat.  Add green chiles, green onions, cilantro, garlic, oregano, cheese, and 2 dashes of Tabasco.  Mix together and set aside.

Remove chicken drippings from refrigerator.  The fat should have solidified on top.  Scoop all the fat solids off the top of the chicken broth, saving 2 tablespoons of fat.  Measure out the chicken broth saved from baking and use canned chicken broth to make a total of 1 cup of liquid.  Place the 2 tablespoons of chicken fat in a small sauce pan (use olive oil to make up the difference if you didn't have 2 tablespoons worth of fat).  Heat on medium and add 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour.  Stir constantly until a paste is formed, making a roux.  Quickly add the 1 cup of broth to the roux, turn heat to high, and begin whisking constantly.  While whisking, add 1 teaspoon of the seasoning mix.  Once the liquid begins to boil, the gravy will begin to thicken.  Continue whisking until it's a gravy consistency and remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Since phyllo dough can be a pain to work with because it dries out quickly, it's best to arrange your work station like an assembly line.  You'll need your chicken filling and gravy near by, enough room for two working areas for phyllo dough, and a well greased cookie sheet.  Make sure your butter is melted and egg wash prepared (by whisking egg and 1 tablespoon of water together) before opening your phyllo dough.  Remove one sheet of phyllo dough and keep the rest covered with a clean, damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap.  Brush melted butter over the first sheet of phyllo and cover buttered dough with a second sheet of phyllo dough.  Brush second sheet with melted butter.  Gently place about 1/2 a cup of filling near the bottom of your phyllo sheets.  Top with 2 tablespoons of the gravy.  Carefully begin to roll the filled phyllo like a burrito, tucking the sides in as you roll.

Place rolled pouches seam-side down on well greased cookie sheet.  Brush tops with egg wash.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until tops are golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool for five minutes before serving.