Thursday, November 03, 2011

Cooking For One: Chicken a la King

Chicken a la King
Cooking For One Is Fun Copyright 1976

1 tablespoon butter (I needed 2 tablespoons)
¼ cup mushrooms
1 tablespoon flour
½ cup chicken broth
½ to 2/3 cup cooked chicken
¼ cup pimientos, diced
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon sherry
Salt and pepper

1. Melt the butter in a small casserole and sauté the mushrooms for 1 minute. Remove the mushrooms. Now stir the flour into the butter in the casserole (I had to add another tablespoon since the mushrooms absorbed the first tablespoon) and gradually add the chicken broth. Continue stirring until the sauce is smooth.
2. Add the chicken, pimientos, and mushrooms to the sauce and keep it warm.
3. At serving time, heat the casserole thoroughly and stir in the egg yolk, sherry, and season as necessary. Serve immediately.

I've always loved chicken a la king.  I used to buy it in boil-in-bags.  Yes, I used to eat boil-in-bags.  They were cheap, single serving, and I liked them.  They were a staple in my single days.  Sadly, they no longer make them and canned chicken a la king just isn't the same.  Chicken a la king can be a bit rich (some recipes call for heavy cream) so I've shied away from making a full recipe of it but the moment I first saw this recipe  - a single serving AND it had no cream - I knew right away I would make this someday.  Someday was last week when I had three mushrooms and most of a rotisserie chicken leftover in the refrigerator.  I picked up a 79 cent jar of pimientos and I was in business.

I know it's not the most attractive picture but trust me, chicken in a rich gravy with mushrooms?  Delicious.  I served it over some toasted Fiber One honey wheat bread.  I toasted the bread in the oven.  I didn't have a toaster oven or toaster at the time.(I have a toaster oven now - you'd be surprised how much you could miss toast!)  It was a very satisfying dinner.

I'm not surprised that most of you aren't cooking for one very often.  I'm still having trouble cooking just for myself.  I usually have the best intentions but when I don't have the boys, I'm usually more inclined to use up whatever is left in the refrigerator. I have to start cooking more on the weekends. Don't worry - I won't inundate you with one serving recipes.

Question of the Day: Are there any convenience foods that you miss? That's probably a repeat question but my brain is mush.


Anonymous said...

Don't worry about inundating us with single serving recipes. We can always increase them.


Annie Jones said...

I remember boil-in-bags. My favs was the sliced beef in brown gravy and chipped beef in cream gravy.

When I was growing up, my mom made almost everything from scratch. But on Wednesday evenings, when my dad had a Rotary Club meeting, we would have boil-in-bags or "TV dinners" (frozen meals like Banquet or Swanson's). We thought that was such a treat! Now I know that the only one getting a treat was my mom, who got a night off of cooking duty! LOL!

Cyndi said...

Boy, did this bring back memories! I ate chicken a la king a LOT when I was growing up. But I'm the opposite of you - if it wasn't from scratch (meaning Mom had made roast chicken the previous day), it was the canned stuff. And I liked it. I tried the boil-in bag, and it just wasn't the same. It was like that with creamed chipped beef - Mom's recipe is still the one I use. The boil-in bag one tasted a bit too weird for me. There WAS a boil-in bag meal I loved, and for the life of me I can't remember what it was!

Anonymous said...

I loved the boil-in-bag chicken ala king also. I remember you could get three of them for a dollar. My grocery bill in those days was so nice. I liked the chipped beef too. Ah, the life of a college kid!

Anonymous said...


Kim said...

I loved the boil in bag chicken a la king! My grandma always had it for me and my sister. She was a great cook, but always told us the frozen a la king was better than the kind she made from scratch. I miss both of them.

Terry said...

Oh wow - now that was a trip down memory lane. I had forgotten about the boil-in-bag meals, but we too had them on the off nights when my dad had a meeting and it was just my mom, my brother and me.

While foodies would vehemently deny it, I secretly think the "sous vide" method is really just a gussied-up version of the boil-in-bag meals of the 1970s.

Anonymous said...

Yes. The Chicken a la King boil in bags. I remember my mom buying them. She was a working mother and it was an easy dinner over toast. Also, Salisbury steak and gravy.