Saturday, April 12, 2008

Creamed Chicken Over Cornbread

We arrived home around noon today. We've been on the road eleven of the last 16 days. Feeling just a wee bit tuckered. But not as tired as Jenni over at One Thing who had a beautiful baby boy early, early this morning. Xavier took his sweet time getting here but I'm sure Jenni would say he was worth the wait. What a cutie!

All the traveling meant I wasn't home to participate in the Spring Fashion Fiesta hosted by Big Mama. Which is probably a good thing, since I'm not sure the bloggy world is ready to see what's in my closet. I'm actually using two closets to contain all the items necessary for the fashion challenge unique to women who have reached the age where their thermostat is broken and it's necessary to layer the clothing.

But I am home in time to post a recipe for Saturday Stirrings! After a lot of fast food meals on the road, I'm going to share something I plan to make in the next couple of days. For a southern girl who loves cornbread and gravy with equal passion, this is the ultimate comfort food! Typically I share quick and easy recipes but today's offering will take a little more work. But let me assure you, IT WILL BE WORTH IT! And it's not hard, just a little more time consuming than the ones I've been posting.

Creamed Chicken Over Cornbread

1 chicken, whole (around 3 lb.)
6 cups watter
salt
1 stalk celery
1-2 carrots
1/3 c. butter
1/3 cup flour
1-1/2 cups light cream or half and half
1 Tablespoon grated onion
1 10 ounce bag frozen peas, thawed
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Rinse chicken, place in large pot with 6 cups water. Add salt, celery and carrots (washed but not peeled). Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour until chicken is cooked (the cooking time depends on how big the chicken is). Remove from heat, remove chicken to platter until cool enough to handle. Reserve the broth. (I often cook down the broth while letting the chicken cool, so the flavor is more intense.) Strain the broth before using later in the recipe.
When chicken is cool enough, remove the meat and dice. Discard skin and bones.
In a heavy saucepan melt the butter on low, add the flour and stir until bubbly (3-5 minutes). Add the cream and 1-1/2 cups of the reserved broth. Cook, stirring until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Stir in chicken, onion, peas, sage, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.Salt to taste. Serve over cornbread (recipe below). IF by some bizarre chance you don't care for cornbread [what is wrong with you, anyway?!] you can serve over biscuits or other bread products.

Cornbread
2 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups cornmeal
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
[NOTE: It's good to start the cornbread while chicken is cooling.]
Melt butter in cast iron skillet while mixing dry ingredients in a bowl. In a small bowl mix egg and milk, add to dry ingredients along with melted butter. Stir just until mixed, pour batter into hot skillet. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

This is one of those recipes you can adapt to your family's personal preferences. Replace the peas with a different vegetable or leave out the vegetable entirely. Add or delete seasonings as you like. Serve it over mashed potatoes instead of bread. Or noodles. I mean, really, this is a very versatile recipe. And it's so delicious!

3 comments:

Farrah said...

That sounds very, very yummy! For a quick comfort meal we like to buy a couple of cans of Nalley's chicken and noodles and serve it over mashed potatoes. If in a hurry, I use instant. LOL! It's delicious. So I can just imagine how tasty this must be. Things are always much better made from scratch.

Cooking doesn't come naturally to me. It really takes effort, but I love to eat new things, so I don't mind making the effort as long as it's not very time-consuming or very much work. (I wonder if part of this problem is from not being taught to cook while growing up. Still, some love cooking who didn't start until they were married.) For this reason, I always skip over recipes that require cooking chicken and taking it off the bone. But for some reason, this one called out to me. I put it in my folder, and one of these Saturdays...I would like to do it. I am physically disabled, so I will probably need Hubby home to help. Now, if I can just convince him it will be worth it...

Ma Hoyt said...

Did I know you had a blog??

The Apron Queen said...

Late making my rounds. Sounds delicious! Do stop by. I'll save you a plate of my Just Peachy Cobbler. :D

For your daily dose of vintage goodness & a bit of silliness, stop by Confessions of an Apron Queen, the home of Vintage Thingies Thursdays