L. and I were so excited to dig into this that I forgot to take a picture of the Chicken à la King reboot, juicy and pale primrose yellow, falling mouth-wateringly out of the cut pie. We can attest (and my mother who had it for lunch the next day can confirm), Chicken à la King 2019 is awesome.
You can actually make this without the crust and serve it over rice, noodles or, (as it is apparently meant to be eaten), over toast. If making my version, please follow the crust instructions for the crust in my recent short rib and vegetable pot pie. As those of you who read me regularly know, I am not a good baker and this crust is fool proof and delicious.
But back to the new Chicken à la King...The version I remember from my childhood was gloppy, often a vehicle for leftover roast chicken and containing the culinary sin in my book that is canned pimientos. I quite like my version - full of flavor and with none of the cream of the original, for what that's worth.
2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 cup peas (frozen is fine)
1 1/2 cups diced carrots (I used fresh but frozen is fine)
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms (I used an assortment of oyster mushrooms, shiitake and portobello for flavor)
1 yellow onion
1 to 1 1/2 cups chicken stock (I use the poaching water from the thighs as described below)
1 cup milk
2 Tbsps butter
2 Tbsps flour
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp sherry
Salt
Peel the onion and cut it in half. Place the 2 halves, along with the chicken thighs in one layer in a large skillet. Cover with water, salt well and cook over medium heat for 22 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside while you make your sauce. If using fresh diced carrots, add these to the pan five minutes before your turn off the heat. The poaching liquid from chicken thighs is very flavorful and I incorporate it into the sauce and freeze the remainder for use as a sauce base.
Place the butter in a stockpot over low heat. Melt it and then continue to let it cook, stirring often so that it does not burn, until it is a nutty, rich brown. Remove from the heat and whisk in the flour. The two ingredients will form a paste.
Put the pan back on the stove and cook for a minute or so, to remove any floury taste from the paste. You must stir this constantly or it will catch and burn.
Turn the heat up to medium, add 1 cup of the poaching liquid from the chicken and whisk well as the mixture thickens. This will only take a couple of minutes so stirring often is a good idea. Add the milk and allow this to cook until the mixture has thickened further. Keep stirring often as this will keep your sauce from being lumpy. Once thick and bubbling away irrepressibly, remove from the heat unless you are making this as a stand alone dish and not as a pie which will cook further in the oven.
For the pot pie version of this dish:
Once you have removed the sauce from the heat, whisk in your egg yolks and make sure that you are thorough in combining them with the sauce. You want the egg yolks to add richness and a pale yellow color to your sauce not spread scrambled eggs through what should be a very velvety end result.
Stir in your frozen peas and carrots (fresh should already be in with the chicken) and mushrooms. Remove the chicken and onion from the remaining poaching liquid and cut into bite sized pieces; add these to the sauce and stir in well..
Add a little more poaching liquid if you find the end result too thick. Once you have the consistency that you like, stir in the sherry. Check for seasoning and adjust for salt.
Pour into an oven safe pie dish, top with the crust and bake as directed in the crust recipe.
If making as a stand alone dish:
Do not remove your pan from the heat but lower it. Add your vegetables and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or so, until your mushrooms are soft and your peas and carrots defrosted.
Add more chicken poaching liquid if your mixture is too thick and, once you have the consistency of sauce that you want, add the egg yolks and stir through well to combine. Cook for an additional 2 minutes or so to be sure the yolk is cooked,
Add the onion and chicken pieces and cook just until the meat is heated through.
Right before serving, stir in the sherry, check for seasoning and add salt if needed, and then pour over your noodles, rice or toast. A little chopped parsley on top could be a nice touch.