A once popular favorite with the urban and suburban cocktail set of the nineteen fifties and sixties it is now largely a ghost.
Not long ago one could still find it in cans in the supermarket but that too seems to have vanished. How this once wildly popular dish could be so entirely erased is a mystery to me.
Our povertystew Chicken a la King is filling, delicious, and economical. You can slosh it over slices of toast (like a SOS) or over rice or egg noodles. Blop it into a frozen pie crust; add a bag of cooked peas; chuck it in the oven until browned and you have a Chicken Pot Pie.
Need This
1 tablespoon of butter*
4 cups of cooked chicken breast – cubed
1 – 8 ounce package of fresh white mushrooms – sliced
1 – 18 ounce can of Progresso Cream of Mushroom soup
1 large green pepper – chopped small
1 – 6.5 ounce jar of chopped red pimentos (look in the Goya aisle)
4 cups of cooked rice (or egg noodles)
Salt
Ground black pepper
Onion powder
Do This
In a large frypan melt the butter over a medium heat then add the chopped green peppers.
Stir-fry the peppers for 5 minutes or so then add the sliced mushrooms to the pan with the peppers. Continue frying until the shrooms turn beige.
Now add the cubed chicken to the pan and continue frying another 5 minutes stirring frequently.
Open the can of cream of mushroom soup and dump it in.
Add salt, pepper and a good zotz of onion powder. Stir some more.
Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture bubble and reduce until it achieves the consistency of Elmer’s Glue.
Serve hot over rice, noodles or toast. Add chopped pimentos over the top for garnish.
Serves 4. My cost approx. $ 9.49 total (sans the rice) – about $2.37 per serving.
*A reminder about cooking mushrooms: I’ve said it before… mushrooms must be cooked in butter. If you do not wish to cook with butter or are lactose intolerant do not make this recipe. GMN