So . . . we’ve all been cooking solely for our families and pods, right? Last Friday night, though, Jim and I actually attended a dinner party. Woo-hoo! It was over at our church in what’s called the “Fireside Room,” which actually has a fireplace, and included just us and two other couples. The other four had all had COVID, so we felt pretty safe. I had volunteered to bring the main dish. It’s an easy choice to make something Italian and pasta-ish, and always good, but I wanted something a little different. I’ll give you the very basic item I came up with and then some ideas to jazz it up/change it up. One of the women asked for the recipe, which was flattering. When she, and you, see what I did you’ll probably laugh, but my idea worked really well. There are still some leftovers in the fridge as I type this Monday morning, and I’m looking forward to having some for lunch.
A couple of ideas to keep in mind here: 1) There’s nothing wrong with using a more-convenient form of an item if the quality doesn’t suffer, and 2) heavy cream improves just about anything. I had originally planned to buy a package of chicken breasts at Costco and use some of them for my chicken dish, but as I walked the aisles on Friday morning (wearing two masks) I thought, ‘Ya know, I could just buy a couple of packages of the deli chicken instead of the one I’d planned and use the extra for tonight.’ It didn’t take much for me to persuade myself! I’ve written about this fabulous chicken item in my upcoming cookbook (yes, that’s still in the works), and it’s a great resource. Let me emphasize as I have before that I’m not, not talking about canned chicken. Not. Everybody got that? The only time I would use that product is when I can’t keep stuff refrigerated and need to make a meal on site. The Costco deli chicken has to be kept cold, but it’s vacuum sealed, has a clearly-marked use-by date on it, will keep for 6 days after opening in the fridge, and can be frozen. It’s 42 ounces, that is, two pounds 10 ounces, and costs $12.99, or $4.95 per pound. That is, of course, more per pound than the uncooked chicken breasts you can buy there and prep yourself, which cost $2.99/pound. So you’re paying almost $2.00/pound more for the cooked deli meat. However, there’s a loss in weight between uncooked and cooked meat of about 25%. So, if my calculations are correct, you’re down to $3.96/pound for the deli chicken if you’re figuring the amount of raw chicken it took to produce the end product, and therefore paying $1.00/pound more, not $2.00. And, as I say in the cookbook, it’s hard to make a big batch of cooked chicken meat that’s nice and moist while also being brought to the proper temp for food safety. (I give a technique there for cooking smaller amounts of chicken.) I buy a ton of raw chicken, believe me. But for chicken salad or casserole, especially in large amounts, there’s nothing better than the Costco product as far as I’m concerned.
Funny story about how we pass on information: I was originally put onto the Costco product because I ran into a couple I knew while I was shopping there several years ago. They were standing in front of the case where the chicken packages were piled up and asked me if I’d ever used it. The man said that it was a great product, and because I’d talked to him quite a bit about our food and cooking adventures (he’s roasted a whole pig in his back yard, if I’m remembering correctly), I trusted his judgment. Wow. Was I impressed when I tasted it. Then, when I was at Costco last week I was standing there getting ready to put a couple of packages into my cart and a woman asked me about it. Had I tried it? Was it good? I was vociferous in my praise. She said that she usually just bought the rotisserie chickens but that she preferred white meat and she always pulled the meat off the bones anyway. I assured her that she’d like this item. So the chain of recommendations spreads.
Keep in mind that you can freeze the chicken. Of course, you don’t want to just throw that whole package into the freezer, even though it’s tempting to do so as the vacuum packaging is really heavyweight. There’s no justification for doing that unless there’s some situation where you have to buy it well ahead of time and you could perhaps use the frozen blocks of chicken as ice packets in a cooler. That situation would be very rare, though. I typically divide up the 42-ounce package into 6-7 smaller ones. Each one is therefore enough for a couple of salads containing chicken, or for some black-bean-and-chicken quesadillas, or whatever. The packages thaw very quickly; in fact, I often don’t remember to take a package out until I need it and just put it on my thawing tray.* As soon as the meat is at all softened I can usually cut off what I need and then return the unused chicken to the fridge where it will thaw completely. It should then be used up completely in a couple of days.
In general, by the way, if you’ve bought a big meat item and you want to freeze it, you’ll always be better off if you divide it up, do some prep work if needed, and freeze it in meal-size portions. (This principle applies to other foods, too. I spend a fair amount of time in, again, the upcoming cookbook, giving advice about pre-prepping and freezing fresh cranberries.) Otherwise you end up with these great honkin’ hunks o’ meat sitting there glaring at you, and they’re hard to thaw out safely and hard to use up. Also, let me emphasize that, for the most part, you should never freeze meat, especially ground meat, in the original store packaging. My mother was absolutely death on this practice. While I do admit to sometimes freezing link sausage in its packaging (since it does have that additional protection of the casing and you can usually break the links apart fairly easily), I don’t make it a practice to freeze ground beef or pork or any kind of steaks or roasts in its store packaging. Costco’s fresh chicken is portioned out into freezable portions in heavy wrapping, with the sections clearly marked where you can cut them apart, so you don’t have to re-package those. (But do pre-cut the sections apart before you freeze them, dab them off, and spread them out on a tray or baking sheet to freeze. Sometimes they have a bit of moisture on them, and if you just throw the clump in as is, there you’ll be, struggling to get one packet free when it seems to be superglued to the others. Not that that’s ever happened to me, of course.) Here’s what the University of Illinois extension office has to say:
It is safe to freeze meat or poultry directly in its supermarket wrapping, but this type of package is permeable to air. Oxygen in the air can hasten both the chemical breakdown and microbial spoilage of many foods. Use the meat within approximately two months, or overwrap the package with airtight heavy-duty foil, freezer wrap, or a freezer zip-lock bag.
This “overwrapping” thingy is fine if you have a small package, but, again, don’t freeze big hunks. On my trip to Costco last week I also bought a package of boneless strip steaks. They are such a good deal, and so good, that I buy them fairly frequently. But I have no immediate plans for them, so each big beautiful steak (5-6 of them) got its own Ziploc freezer bag, with the air pressed out carefully and the date written on the bag. So much better than leaving them as is! Their quality will remain stellar, and I can easily take out just what I need when the time comes.
Okay. Are you wondering if I’m ever going to get to the chicken casserole recipe? Here it is, in all its thrown-together glory:
Shortcut Creamy Chicken Casserole
Use pre-cooked deli chicken to make a delicious, fast casserole for a crowd.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2-3 shallots, finely chopped, optional
- 1 24-oz. pkg. mushrooms, white or crimini, washed, wiped clean, and sliced
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 cup white wine
- 3-4 cups heavy cream Yes, that much cream. But you bought it at Costco, right?
- 4 heaping tablespoons chicken stock base, pref. "Better than Bouillon"
- 1 42-ounce pkg. pre-cooked deli chicken
- 1 pound pasta, pref. whole wheat, short and sturdy, such as fusilli or bow-tie
Instructions
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Melt butter in large skillet, saute shallot, if using, until softened, then add mushrooms and cook until softened and liquid has evaporated.
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Sprinkle flour over the mushroom mixture and stir until all flour is incorporated. Stir in wine and bring to a simmer, then add cream and chicken base and simmer further until thickened. You should probably just go ahead and use the 4 cups, but if you want to you can start out with 3 here and then add the fourth cup below if you think the casserole needs more sauce. Note: Food always needs more sauce. Taste the sauce to see if you need to add more chicken base. Some freshly-ground pepper won't come amiss, but you can do as you please on that.
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Meanwhile, cook pasta in salted water until just shy of al dente. Drain and spread out in two 9x13 pans. If you're serving this in some sort of buffet line and are using chafing dishes, use the half-size disposable foil pans available through many outlets, notably Costco.
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Shred chicken into bite-size pieces, discarding any tendons or skin that you see, and spread equally over the pasta.
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Pour the sauce/mushroom mixture equally over your two pans. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 3500 until thoroughly heated through and bubbling at edges, probably 30 minutes. Baking time is very dependent on how cold/hot the individual ingredients were.
Recipe Notes
Since I was flying rather fast and low when I originally made this, I didn't add any extra frills. But some chopped herbs would be nice, notably thyme, parsley, and/or chives. You could mix them into the sauce or sprinkle them on top for added class.
While most casseroles of this type are topped with some sort of cheese, I didn't add that when I made this the first time as I felt it was savory enough without it. However, a good grating of Parmesan over the top wouldn't come amiss. I added that ingredient when I reheated the leftovers.
*I bought one of these on impulse years ago, probably at Bed Bath & Beyond. It’s made of aluminum, a metal that conducts heat rapidly. You don’t have to buy this item, to be sure. It’s just nice to pull it out and use it knowing that it’s been specifically designed for the purpose. But it’s only useful for small, thin items that you need to use right away. Larger frozen items need to be thawed properly, overnight in the fridge. Here’s a good article:
Can’t wait for your cookbook!
Thanks, I need recipes without cheese, and I can use Almond flour and stay true to my diet boundaries. sue