Chicken a la King

This is a tasty meal that looks fancy and can be made ahead of  time and frozen.  The puff pastry comes frozen right from the grocery store!  You only bake as many shells as you need and put the rest back in the freezer in a plastic storage bag.  The filling is made ahead of time and frozen.  Just thaw the filling in the fridge and warm it on the stove top when ready to eat!  Easy Peasy! 

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked and cubed chicken       3.48
4 cups chicken broth                           free
4 heaping Tbsp of flour
2 Tbsp margarine or butter
2 Tbsp olive oil 
1 onion--chopped                                  .40
1 green pepper--chopped                      .85
1 red pepper--chopped                        2.00 (ouch!)
1 8oz can of sliced water chestnuts     1.85
3 tsp chicken base                                 .25
salt pepper and all purpose seasoning
2 boxes of puff pastry shells               6.78

Directions:

In a large saucepan melt the margarine and add the olive oil to warm over medium heat.  Add the onion and peppers.  Saute 5 minutes.  Add the three tsp of chicken base and stir well. 

Sprinkle in the 4 heaping Tbsp of flour.  Stir well. 

Then slowly stir in 4 cups of chicken broth.  Drain the water chestnusts and add to your sauce.  Stir in the cubed chicken.  Turn the heat up to high and stir well until sauce thickens.  If sauce seems too thin take a separate small bowl, stir 2 Tbsp flour into cold water and slowly add to sauce until you get a nice smooth sauce.  You want it to be thinner than gravy, but thicker than soup.  Taste the sauce and add salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning to your preference.

Turn off heat.  Divide into two quart size containers and freeze. 

Thaw the chicken mixture two days in the fridge and heat in a sauce pan on the stove top to serve.  Leave the puff pastry frozen until 20 minutes before you are ready to eat.  Preheat your oven and bake off one to two puff pastries per person according to package directions. 

Before                                                             

After

Serve the chicken and pepper sauce over top of the puff pastry.  If you have a little parsley in your garden that would make a great garnish.  Very fancy...and tasty!

 I was able to make two meals (one quart of chicken mixture and 6 puff pastries) for $7.81 each.  If you'd like to cut the cost down you can use chopped roasted red peppers from a jar and have the same flavor without the crunch.  I have heard that sliced mushrooms go well in this dish too, but I have a mushroom aversion. 

Enjoy!
Christie aka Keeza