Chicken a La King
Warm and soothing Chicken a La King. This version is delicious, albeit rich, comfort food. It's a great winter dish and a fine way to use up chicken leftovers. Serve it in vol au-vents - French for "windblown" (puff pastry shells). Green pepper or red pimientos can dress up the dish for holiday time. If you don't like puff pastry, you can serve it over cooked rice, toast, or noodles. Can be made ahead and reheated. Allow 45 minutes to prepare.
Warm and soothing Chicken a La King. This version is delicious, albeit rich, comfort food. It's a great winter dish and a fine way to use up chicken leftovers. Serve it in vol au-vents - French for "windblown" (puff pastry shells). Green pepper or red pimientos can dress up the dish for holiday time. If you don't like puff pastry, you can serve it over cooked rice, toast, or noodles. Can be made ahead and reheated. Allow 45 minutes to prepare.
- 1 cup mushroom sliced
- 3 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup flour
- 5 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/2 red bell pepper diced
- 1/2 onion sliced
- 3 ounces sugar snap peas
- 2 1/4 cups chicken stock
- 3 cups chicken breast cooked, cubed
- 1/2 cup carrots chopped
- 6 pepp. farm pastry shells (1 package)
- 4 tablespoon cream optional
- 1 tablespoon sherry optional
- Carbohydrate 17.888494825992 g
- Cholesterol 102.401666684622 mg
- Fat 15.4029410876284 g
- Fiber 1.20254208053924 g
- Protein 33.8690090774957 g
- Saturated Fat 8.27709861828844 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (403g)
- Sodium 346.0036849914 mg
- Sugar 16.6859527454527 g
- Trans Fat 1.42057236781633 g
- Calories 352 calories
Step-by-step
- Melt 1 tablespoon butter in skillet. Add mushrooms and saute until tender, about five minutes. Set aside. Saute onions, carrots, in an additional tablespoon of butter. Set aside.
- Prepare puff pastry shells according to directions; they take about 25 minutes to cook.
- Make a roux out of the additional butter over medium heat until bubbling (melt the butter and mix in the flour, bit by bit, whisking with a fork or whisk to remove all clumps before adding more).
- Brown the roux to a light brown color, then gradually whisk in the chicken stock. Add the rest of the stock, keeping sauce simmering but not boiling furiously, and add the sherry. Reduce heat to medium and add the vegetables and cubed chicken.
- Serve over puff pastry shells. Garnish with chives or parsley.
- This is a pretty rich dish. BigOven calculates this at about 917 calories per serving, and about 62g carbohydrate.
Operating within a thirty-minute preparation window requires precise management of simultaneous heat sources, utilizing separate pans for searing vegetables while managing a foundational roux. Scaling this preparation demands proportional adjustments, particularly with flour and butter ratios. Doubling the recipe requires careful monitoring of the stock volume; pouring two and a quarter cups of liquid into a thickened fat mixture must be done gradually to prevent lump formation. When expanding quantities beyond six servings, opt for a wide-diameter saucier rather than a narrow pot to maintain sufficient evaporation rates for the sauce. Utilizing fresh mushrooms, carrots, and bell peppers introduces water content during cooking that must evaporate fully during the five-minute saute phase to avoid diluting the final sauce. Substituting these fresh vegetables with canned or frozen alternatives alters moisture release significantly, often requiring a reduction in added stock by roughly fifteen percent to maintain viscosity. Cook the flour and butter mixture until it reaches a light brown color over medium heat to eliminate raw starch flavors before introducing the liquid. Simmer the assembled mixture gently without allowing a aggressive boil, which can break the emulsion. Finished pastry shells require approximately twenty-five minutes of oven time and must be baked fully to support the weight of the cubed chicken breast and heavy sauce without collapsing. Storing leftover portions requires airtight refrigeration within two hours of preparation, remaining stable for up to three days before the pastry loses its structural integrity.
