Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Chicken, Potato & Almond Hotdish

When I made hotdish for the Royal Foodie Joust a couple weeks ago we were reminded just how good & comforting a hotdish can be. My mom used to make one called Chicken Almond Party Bake that I always liked so I decided to make my own version of it.
Chicken, Almond & Potato Hotdish
The original version was topped with instant potato flakes. I used Yukon gold potatoes with the skin still on. I also made my own mushroom soup again as the sauce. I added frozen peas to the dish to add a little color & well, a vegetable. I love the crunch the almonds give the filling. This is a dish I cold eat all winter.

Chicken, Potato & Almond Hotdish

2 medium Yukon gold potatoes
1/2 T olive oil
10 baby bella mushrooms, cleaned & sliced
salt & pepper
1 T unsalted butter
2 T all-purpose flour
pinch of dried thyme
3/4 c chicken broth
1/2 c cream
1 1/2 t sherry
1 large chicken breast, cooked & chopped
1/3 c slivered almonds, toasted 
handful of frozen peas
1/4 c sour cream
1 egg

Clean the potatoes & poke a few holes in them with a fork. Microwave until soft. Mash the potatoes including the skin & set aside to cool.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms & cook until tender. Season with salt & pepper then set aside.

In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour & thyme. Cook while stirring for 1 minutes, do not brown. Stir in the broth & cook until thick & bubbly. Stir in the cream & cook until slightly thickened. Stir sherry, salt & pepper. Add the chicken, almonds & peas. Pour into a baking dish, I used a glass loaf pan.

Mash the sour cream & egg into the potatoes along with a generous amount of salt & pepper.

Top the chicken mixture with the potatoes. You can make this ahead of time, cover with plastic wrap & chill until ready to bake.

Bake at 375 F for 45 minutes.

2 - 3 servings

12 comments:

  1. Yum! This looks very good! I'll have to add this to my to-try list.

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  2. This looks delicious. I'm sure making your own soup for the sauce and using real potatoes instead of instant potato flakes really cuts down on the sodium in the dish.

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  3. yummm...good comfort food!

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  4. Yum! So glad you use your own soup. I want to get away from the canned stuff and you've shown me how to do it. :)

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  5. Sounds so delicious, and the sauce look so silky. I like the addition of slivered almond too.
    Cheers,
    Elra

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  6. Whoa that sounds amazing! This really is comfort food at its best!

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  7. My daughter has been clammering for some sort of hotdish. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  8. Looks good - I like the addition of peas, they add a great fresh flavour as well as good colour.

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  9. oh, the creaminess of it all. i can just imagine the silky broth, crunchy almonds, and toothy taters. great dish, kat!

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  10. The 1/2 cream, I am assuming is a half cup, right? I think I could actually make this yummo dish with yogurt in place of the cream. It would lighten it a little.

    It just so screams comfort and warmth. I love it Kat.

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  11. Lori - Thanks for the catch, yes it was 1/2 cup. You could use yogurt instead of the sour cream & skim milk instead to the cream to lighten it up as well

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  12. Hmmm, the almond addition is neat...I like it.

    This is very warming..let go get a blanket.

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