OK, I'm going from raw foods to a chicken casserole that I can't QUITE remember the recipe for (I sent all my cookbooks to oldest daughter) in two days on this blog. The chicken casserole recipe was passed on to me at my first genuine place of employment, Frank N. Magid Associates, in Marion, IA. The recipe came in a company cookbook and was submitted by J., one of the coding women. The coding women mostly did not HAVE to work, being married to mostly rich fellows. J. of the recipe lived in a big house with an indoor swimming pool AND an outdoor one and a dear, sweet old black lab named Fiona. The recipe is to die for. Really good. Here's what I remember of it.
Cut up two chickens into 14 pieces each. Dust each peace with flour, salt & pepper, and set aside.
Next, heat some oil REALLY HOT in a chicken fryer-size pan and fry the chicken pieces until they're golden. Remove to a bowl. Next add a little more oil to the same pan, keeping it HOT, and saute 3 large chopped onions. When the onions begin to turn color, add 3 TABLESPOONS of chili powder. Stir it around, then add the chicken pieces back to the pan. Turn and press the chicken into the onions and chili powder to make sure the chicken is well coated with the chili powder. Let it saute a little more while you prepare a baking pan big enough to hold the chicken and onions.
Heat the oven to 300F, scrape the contents of the chicken-fryer pan into a 9x13" baking dish,
and add about 1-2 cups of golden raisins and maybe a whole small (8 oz) carton of half&half or cream. Now's the time to add more salt & pepper if you want. Bake for maybe 30 minutes or so, making sure the cream doesn't boil over. Cook until a nice skin forms, and the chicken pieces are clearly done.
I don't know what you serve it ON. I just liked the chicken & onions & raisins by themselves.
All Midwestern recipes end with "ENJOY!!" So just go ahead and do it. Enjoy! It's dang good!
Update: You can make the oven hotter, and cook the casserole longer, but watch to make sure the cream doesn't curdle or separate. Cook it how you like it--until it smells fab and looks well done.
Wow, XE, this sounded really, really good - until you started adding the raisins and sour cream. Then, it merely sounded good. Think I'll try it both ways. Thanks for the recipe.
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P.S. Please tell us what "coding women" do for a living. As an engineer, I used to write computer code - which the "keypunch women" would transform into punched cards to provide input to the mainframe computer - but, I would like to know about your "coding women".
Cop Car: It's GOLDEN raisins and REAL cream, NOT sour cream. I used to use evaporated milk--cheaper, lower fat. but you still have to watch it so it doesn't boil over or curdle.
ReplyDeleteThe coding women basically did the same thing you did, but they were not engineers. They coded the verbatim responses to open-ended questions. They didn't have to be there every day or all the time, so it was a good job for someone who was smart but did not need full-time work. I started in August 1978, and maybe two months later, the company replaced the huge mainframe which did away with the need for keypunch people. They laid off the entire proofreading department except for two people: another woman and yours truly. And so on....how times change!!
XE--Not to be too belligerant but I don't care what color the raisins are or what condition the cream is in. My high cholesterol (runs in the family) outlawed cream for me years ago so that now it doesn't even sound good - unless it is ice cream! I love raisins; but, I cannot imagine wanting to add something that is high-sugar-content to chicken. (I know, I know.... But, I said that I would try it both ways!) *chuckling*
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XE--Having now tried the Pullet Surprise without raisins and cream, I pronounce it DEE-LISH-US! (Did that make you cringe?) I shall now put sour cream on today's want list for Hunky Husband to buy with the rest of the groceries.
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P.S. Since I was making a small dish - just enough for me - I used a small cast-iron skillet, adding a bit of water, placing a heavy lid on it, and letting it cook over a very low flame for about 12-14 minutes.
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P.P.S. I have a mental hangup. I shall put REAL cream on the shopping list! *sighing*
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CC: I'm sure it was dee-lish-us, even without the raisins and cream!!! Do you think engineers also make good cooks? I'll bet!
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