Here is a tasty dish fit to serve the King,
that can be made quickly just using a few good wholesome ingredients.
For two generous portions
You will need:
-
Half a medium sized cooked chicken, (you can
buy them ready cooked from all major supermarkets these days either cold, or
just follow your nose to the hot counter and buy a lovely, succulent, spit
roasted chicken). Alternatively, use a good quality tin of chunky
chicken in a white sauce, approximately 418 g, a tall tin, but the exact weight
isn’t too important. I can particularly
recommend Tesco’s own brand. - 250 g, one medium carton of firm button mushrooms.
- 1 medium sized red or yellow pepper.
-
1 pint, 20 fluid ounces or two and three
quarter measuring cups of milk, (it doesn’t matter if its full fat or skimmed). - 1 heaped tbsp of corn flour.
- a small knob of butter for frying.
- a small pinch of salt.
- a grind of black pepper.
- a sprinkling of dried basil (optional)
-
Remove the chicken from the bone, taking
care to discard the fine thin bones that run down along the leg bones or
drumsticks and any cartilage plus the skin. -
Break the meat into small bite-sized pieces, put it either on to a plate or, into a clean plastic bag, then into the
fridge to keep cool until you are ready to add it to the recipe. - Wipe the mushrooms with kitchen towel, break them into small chunks and leave on one side.
-
Lay two sheets of either newspaper or scrap Braille magazine on to your draining board or worktop so that they are
overlapping, and, Use a small knife to remove a ring of pepper from the stalk
end. When you lift it away you will feel that most of the tiny, flat, hard
seeds are situated all around the centre of it, and just inside the top rim of
the hollow pepper. There will still be a few seeds left inside, but if you tap it
sharply over the paper most of them will
drop out. To make absolutely sure, just run your fingers up and down the inside to dislodge any that still remain. -
Rinse the pepper in cold water then break
it into small pieces. -
Put the mushrooms and pepper into a large saucepan with a small knob of butter or margarine and fry them for about ten
minutes until they have softened slightly, stirring frequently to prevent them
sticking to the pan. -
Now, here is where you can make it really quick, and cheat, by adding a tin of chicken in sauce, just stirring it in and
heating it through for about 5 minutes to make sure its hot. - If you are using a cooked chicken, continue with the recipe and make your white sauce.
-
Measure a small amount of the milk into a jug, add the corn flour and blend to a smooth paste before adding the rest of
the milk to the jug. -
Remove your pan of fried vegetables from the stove on to a heat resistant surface and gently pour in the milk
mixture. Put it back on to a low heat
again, and stirring constantly, bring
the sauce slowly to the boil. -
When the mixture begins to bubble slightly,
turn down the heat and keep stirring until you feel the sauce thickening. It will become a little more resistant to
the spoon as it does this. -
Now, add a little salt and pepper plus the
basil if required. -
Take the chicken from the fridge, add it to
the pan and stir for about one minute to combine it with the sauce. - Continue to cook gently, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes to make sure that the chicken is hot.
Serve with warm, crusty garlic bread or one
of the brilliant quick to cook rice’s (such as Uncle Ben’s express long grain
rice) that are available now, where all you need to do is cut a little way
across the top of the pack, where you can feel one of the tiny nicks, put it on a plate and whack it in to the
microwave on full power for two minutes and you’ve got a really tasty meal
ready in next to no time.
Hope you enjoy it,
Sue.