Chicken and noodles. A perfect pair called upon again and again to soothe generations of runny noses and weary souls. The Simon & Garfunkel of food. Classic comfort in a bowl, Homestyle Chicken & Noodles combines all the classic flavors of chicken pot pie with the carby-goodness of egg noodles in a rich, creamy sauce. It's a great way to stretch a couple chicken breasts into a meal to feed an army, and can be easily modified to use up any produce you might have lying around. You can even use frozen veggies if that's all you've got. Don't be intimidated by the long list of ingredients - this comes together easily and can be made start to finish in less than 30 minutes. If you listen to "Bridge Over Troubled Water" while you cook, it'll taste even better.
Homestyle Chicken & Noodles (serves 8-10)
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups cooked, diced chicken breast (rotisserie chicken is great for this, or bake or poach a couple chicken breasts, cool and dice)
1/4 cup butter (1/2 a stick - I like salted)
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced carrot (if you don't have fresh carrots, you can sub frozen, but you'll add with the peas later)
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning (if you don't have this, add a little rubbed sage, dried thyme and dried parsley and you'll get the same flavors)
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth/stock
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cream (or half and half, whatever you have)
2 tsp chicken bouillon or chicken base (like Better Than Bullion - I love that stuff)
1 cup frozen green peas
1 12oz package of wide egg noodles
Method:
Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook egg noodles according to package directions. While noodles cook, Melt butter in a high sided sautée pan or pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery (AKA mirepoix, a very fancy French word) and sautée until soft. Season with poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with flour and cook for a minute or two (another fancy French word, we're making a "roux"). Add broth, milk, cream and bullion (yet ANOTHER fancy French word, we've made a "velouté" sauce, one of the classic "mother" sauces). Bring to a low boil and reduce to simmer until thickened. Add peas (can be added frozen - they cook in no time) and diced chicken and keep warm. Add cooked noodles to the sauce and stir to combine. Serve with buttered dinner rolls to sop up all the sauce.
One of my new year's resolutions for 2020 was to learn to bake bread. For all the cooking and baking I've done over the years, I've always been intimidated by yeast. Maybe because it's alive (I've never been good with houseplants or gardens either, but that's a story for another day), or maybe because baking bread requires precision to get good results (and I've always been more of an improv artist in my kitchen), but either way, I was afraid to try because I might fail. And I hate to fail. However, now is the time for courage. We are all called to be brave in the face of insurmountable adversity. If we can unite as a people during this tenuous time and succeed, surely I can bake a little bread. So I tried.
And I made these nifty little dinner rolls. Soft and buttery, light and fluffy, they were not at all bad. I think the next time I make these I'll use a bigger, rectangle pan so they have more room to reach their full potential. Because I used rapid rise yeast, they didn't take a whole day to make either, and were the perfect accompaniment to my Homestyle Chicken & Noodles.
Dinner Rolls (makes 18 rolls)
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups milk, warmed to between 110-120 degrees
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) rapid rise active dry yeast
1 egg
1/4 butter, softened
1 tsp kosher salt
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I like unbleached) and extra if needed
1/4 cup melted butter
flaked sea salt, or kosher salt for topping
Method:
Heat milk in a 2 cup glass measuring cup in microwave to between 110-120 degrees. Add sugar and stir. Add yeast and let rest, or "bloom" for five minutes. Add softened butter, egg and salt and beat with a fork until combined.
In the bowl of your mixer fitted with paddle attachment, add contents of the measuring cup. Start adding flour in 1/2 measures and mix on low. Dough should start pulling away from sides of bowl and come together. If dough is still super sticky, you can add a little more flour until it comes together.
Change to dough hook attachment and "knead" on low for two minutes. Dough should form a ball around the hook.
Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and add dough to bowl. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rest for an hour. It will get nice and puffy. Grease a rectangle metal baking pan (an 7x9 is probably a good size). Divide dough into 18 pieces and roll into balls. Place balls three across and six down, with dough balls touching. Cover with the dish towel and let rise again until doubled in size (about 20-30 minutes) Bake at 400 for 12-18 minutes until golden brown. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with salt.
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