Cooks Country Chicken á La King Food

LONG LIVE THE CHICKEN A LA KING!

Steps:

• Preheat oven according to package directions for biscuits. Arrange biscuits on nonstick baking sheet and sprinkle with a little ground cayenne pepper or sweet paprika then place biscuits into a preheated oven. Bake until golden, remove biscuits from oven and then cool.
• In a medium skillet, bring 1 cup white wine and 2 cups chicken broth and 1 bay leaf to a boil. Slide in chicken breasts and gently poach them in simmering broth and wine for 10 to 12 minutes.
• Preheat a second skillet over medium heat. Add oil and butter. When butter melts into oil, add mushrooms and onion and cook 5 minutes until tender. Add flour and cook another minute.
• Pull chicken from broth and set on cutting board. Ladle cooking liquid into the mushrooms, whisking it in. Add 2 to 2 1/2 cups of liquid and discard the bay leaf. Add pimentos and peas to the sauce. Dice chicken into bite-size pieces and slide into bubbling sauce.
• Split the biscuits, place bottoms on dinner plates and cover with ladles of Chicken a la King. Cap with biscuit tops and garnish with chopped parsley.

CHICKEN A LA KING

Steps:

• In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 1/4 cup of the butter, and saute the shallots until softened, about 4 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour, and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes. Whisk in the sherry and broth and bring to a boil while stirring. Add the parsley and thyme sprigs, lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook the sauce for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute the mushrooms until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Strain the sauce into mushrooms and season with the salt, pepper, cayenne, and nutmeg. Whisk in the creme fraiche.
• Add the minced parsley, chicken, and chives to the sauce, and bring to a simmer. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately over noodles, toast points, split baking powder biscuits or wrapped in crepes.
• Put the parsley, thyme, onion, carrot, celery, and chicken breasts in a medium saucepan. Cover with the broth, and bring just to a boil. Lower the heat to very low and cover. Poach the chicken for 20 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove the pan from the heat, uncover, and cool the chicken in the liquid for 30 minutes.
• Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and reserve the liquid. Bone and skin the chicken and cut the meat into cubes. Discard the bones and skin.
• Strain the broth and store, covered, in the refrigerator for 3 days or freeze for later use. Remove any fat from the surface of the broth before using.
• Yield: 4 to 6 servings

COOK'S COUNTRY CHICKEN á LA KING

Steps:

• Whisk ½ cup cream, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon salt in bowl. Combine chicken and cream mixture in large zipper-lock bag; refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook onion until golden, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, bell pepper, ¼ teaspoon salt, and pepper and cook until vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add Madeira, scraping up any browned bits with wooden spoon, and cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Add broth and remaining cream and cook until sauce is very thick and spatula leaves trail when dragged through sauce, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in chicken mixture and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, stirring frequently, until chicken is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in remaining lemon juice and parsley.
• For Toasted Bread: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange eight 1-inch-thick slices of Italian bread on baking sheet. Brush 2 tablespoons of melted butter over both sides of bread slices.
• Toast bread until golden brown, about 10 minutes, flipping slices halfway through cooking. Spoon chicken à la king over toast and serve.

TRADITIONAL CHICKEN A LA KING

Steps:

• In large saucepan, saute the mushrooms, carrots, onion and green pepper in butter until vegetables are crisp-tender. , In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper and sage; stir in milk and broth until smooth. Gradually add to vegetable mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened; Add peas and chicken. , Simmer, uncovered, for 4-6 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Serve with biscuits.