Chicken a la King - The Arkansas Dinner.

These recipes were used for our previous Weston A. Price Foundation chapter meeting.

When my family sat down for dinner I realized that almost everything was from Arkansas.

Chicken a la King

1/2 C. butter (1 stick)
1/2 C. onions, finely chopped
1 tsp. sage
1 tsp. thyme (from my container garden)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 C. flour
1-3/4 C. chicken bone broth
1-1/2 C. whole milk
8 oz. finely chopped mushrooms (any variety, mine were Shiitake mushrooms are from 3-Buddies Berry and Mushroom Farm. )
2 - 3 C. diced, cooked chicken (from Cove Creek Acres)

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add onions, spices, salt and pepper. Cook until onions are transparent. Add flour a bit at a time, stirring constantly —stir and cook until hot and bubbly (to make a roux).  Next, gradually add bone broth and then milk, mixing continuously. Add mushrooms.

If you stopped at this point, you'd have cream of mushroom soup.

Turn burner down to med-low. Gently and nearly continuously keep stirring mixture. It may seem a bit lumpy at first, but will smooth out. Bring to a gentle boil and stir for 1 minute. Add chicken and heat through.  (I cooked the chicken and stock the day before in my crock pot.)

UPDATE JUNE 2011:  If you add 1/2 cup of white wine to this you won't regret it.  Super yumma-lish.

Optional: Add 4 - 6oz. frozen green peas.

Serve over brown rice.

Soaked Brown Rice—oven recipe, perfect for cooking rice in advance!

3 C. long-grain brown basmati rice (uncooked)
5 C. bone broth
2 Tbls. olive oil or butter
1-1/2 tsp. salt

Soak rice in 6 cups water and 4 tablespoons kefir, cultured buttermilk, etc. for about 7 hours.

Drain rice, but do not rinse. Turn oven on to 375°. Grease 3 quart baking dish and pour in rice. On
stovetop bring broth, oil, and salt to a boil over high heat. Pour hot liquid mixture over rice. Cover with
double layer of foil. Bake 50-60 minutes, until tender.

Collard Greens from Kellogg Valley Farms
Remove thick stems from leaves.

Melt a generous pat of butter in a sauce pan (bacon grease would be yummy, too - but I didn't have any.)  Toss in your collard greens, place the lid on pan for about 1 minute.  Remove lid, stir greens, add salt, cover for another minute.  Repeat until greens are wilted to desired consistency.

My family really enjoyed the bitter taste of the greens with the rich creamy chicken a la king.

If you've not tried collard greens lately - try them!  They are so good for us.  Buy some Arkansas food this weekend at the farmers market!  Here is a list of other seasonal Arkansas food.

also posted at Works for Me Wednesday and Real Food Wednesday.