"The Southern Heritage Plain and Fancy Poultry Cookbook" - Escalloped Chicken Georgia-Style

Date I made this recipe: October 12, 2008

The Southern Heritage Plain and Fancy Poultry Cookbook by the editors of Southern Living
Published by: Oxmoor House
© 1983
Recipe: Escalloped Chicken Georgia-Style – p. 97

Well, today was another rainy day and that usually signals some sort of casserole, and since we had some leftover turkey in our house, I selected this recipe. It had a couple of things going for it: there were only a few ingredients to buy and it didn’t serve 20+ people like some of the recipes in this book. Our freezer doesn’t have enough space for the remaining 18 servings!

This dish was good and easy to make but I must say that the toasted bread-crumb toping was a head-scratcher. It added nothing to the dish and in fact, took away some of the flavor of the “filling” below the surface. I think you can safely leave it off and still have a tasty dish.

Another head-scratcher was the cooking time: 20 minutes at 350 left us with a lukewarm dish that we ended up microwaving. Huh.

But other than the piddly little things above, it was satisfying on what appears to be the start of the fall rainy season. (Deep, heavy sigh).

Escalloped Chicken Georgia-Style – Serves 6
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups chicken broth
½ cup milk
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
2 cups cooked rice
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
2 tablespoons chopped pimiento (1 small jar ought to do it)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
(Topping: I think this can be optional)
4 slices bread, toasted and crumbled
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
½ teaspoon paprika

Saute mushrooms and onion in butter in a large skillet until tender. Stir in flour. Gradually add broth and milk, stirring until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat. Stir in chicken, rice, almonds, pimiento, salt and pepper. Spoon in to a lightly greased 2-quart casserole. Top with breadcrumbs. Pour butter over crumbs, and sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. (Note: As mentioned earlier, this was lukewarm when we took it out so you may want to leave it in longer).