Chicken Stroganhoff

Ok, this is a long story...

My favorite cookbook in the whole world is a book originally published in the mid-fifties by the Junior League of Baton Rouge called River Roads Recipes. My Mother gave me this treasure for Christmas one year long before I was married. Over the years the cover somehow got torn off, the pages were tattered and spattered. My husband gave me River Roads II, a Second Helping and I treasured this book also. I lost both of those books when our home flooded during Hurricane Katrina. About a year after Katrina, my husband took the girls to New Orleans for a visit. We had only been living in East Tennessee for a few months and I wasn't able to go because I had just started a new job. My husband returned with a brand spanking new copy of River Roads Recipes, River Roads II, a Second Helping and River Roads III, A Healthy Portion along with beautiful Fleur de Lis bookends. There's no way I can describe in words how happy and whole I felt again.




I had to tell you that story to tell you this story. In River Roads there are two recipes for Beef Stoganhoff. One is horrible and the other is very good. For the life of me, I couldn't remember which one was which. The other dilemma, I wanted to try and convert it using chicken in lieu of beef. I lucked out and picked the right one, this recipes is full of flavor and a must try.


Chicken Stroganhoff -

Cut 1 pack of boneless, skinless chicken fillets into chunks and season with salt, black pepper, and poultry seasoning. Then dredge them in flour seasoned with salt, cayenne, garlic powder onion powder and sauté them in a large pot that can go into the oven or a dutch oven in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Saute in batches over high heat until browned.

When browned remove them from the pot and drop into the pot the 4 tablespoons of butter. Note: After doing this, 2 tablespoons of butter is plenty.

Add in 1 cup sliced Portabella mushrooms, 1 cup roughly chopped onions and cook the mixture over medium high heat until the mushrooms begin to soften and toast slightly. When the toasting occurs, stir in 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. Then sauté the mix until everything is fully blended.

Now remove all the ingredients from the pot and set them aside.

It’s now time to deglaze the pot by pouring in 1/2 cup sherry and scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen the debris. When this is done, simmer the “deglaze” over low heat until the wine is almost evaporated. At that stage, pour in 1 cup chicken broth and drop the chicken pieces back into the pot.

And then it’s “oven time.” Take the pot, tight-fitting cover snugly in place, slide it into a preheated 325 degree oven, and let the chicken braise for about 45 minutes undisturbed.

Remove the pot from the oven and immediately fold in the mushrooms and the onions. Then cover the pot tightly and bake for a final 15 minutes.

When you’re ready to eat, whisk together in a small bowl 3 tablespoons sour cream and 2 teaspoons of finely chopped dill. Serve this Stroganhoff over hot buttered noodles topped with a dollop of dill sour cream. Of course, you just got to have a basket full of hot yeast rolls for the final sopping!

Notes:

To make buttered noodles, simply boil them in lightly salted water containing a touch of olive oil for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Then drain them, toss them lightly with 2 tablespoons of butter, and serve them hot, topped with the Chicken Stroganhoff.