An old recipe I copied down from a magazine in the late 1980’s when I first got married was for the very ‘exotic’ Chicken a la King. We thought we were so sophisticated when we sat down to our meal in our first house and it’s something we’ve enjoyed eating every so often since then. My apologies for not being able to give credit to the original recipe writer, but it’s been with me for over 25 years on a scrappy piece of paper. I’ve changed it slightly as I really don’t like mushrooms, so they’re no longer in my own version of this recipe, but please feel free to ‘add the fungus’ if you so wish!
4 Chicken breasts, skinned
40g Butter
10ml Oil
1 Onion, diced
100g Mushroom, sliced (not on my plate!)
2tbs Cornflour
60ml cold Water
20ml Tomato purée
Black Pepper to taste
250ml Chicken stock
1tsp dried Basil
2 Tomatoes, skinned & sliced
150ml Single cream
1/2 Green Pepper, sliced
1/2 Red Pepper, sliced
1. Heat the oven to 180C.
2. Heat the butter & oil in a frying pan.
3. Fry the chicken on both sides until golden.
4. Remove the chicken breasts to a casserole dish and set to one side.
5. Fry the onions and mushrooms (if using) until softened, but not coloured.
6. Mix the cornflour and water together until smooth.
7. To the pan, add the tomato purée, black pepper, stock and cornflour/water and bring to the boil, continuously stirring until thickened, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
8. Add the basil, sliced tomatoes, cream and sliced peppers and stir through.
9. Pour the sauce over the chicken breasts and cover with the lid.
10. Place your casserole dish in the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
I’m entering this ‘old favourite’ in to the Community Cooks Competition with the Central Co-Op.
