Chicken Hash

Chicken Hash

from We Make You Kindly Welcome: Recipes from the Trustees’ House Daily Fare, Pleasant Hill, KY

This is one of Grace's favorites. I like it because it is made of things I normally keep in my pantry/freezer, I don't have to shop especially for it, and it can be made from shelf-stable items so I always have something I can make for dinner.

1 and 3/4 cups chicken broth (I often use bouillon cubes, and end up with two cups of liquid. It doesn’t really make that much of a difference, just a little more flour/water at the end)

1/4 cup chopped onion (can be fresh, frozen, or dried; if fresh, chop them fine so they cook through)

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/16 teaspoon red pepper (cayenne)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon seasoning salt

3 and 1/2 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded. (This can be a lot of chicken. If you don't have that much, don't worry about it too much. You'll just have more gravy.)

1/2 cup flour shaken with 1/2 cup cold water to make slurry

2 Tablespoons butter

Heat the broth and add the seasonings and the onions; taste before adding the thickening and adjust accordingly.

Bring to boil; whisk in the flour slurry until the consistency of gravy is reached. Remember it will thicken a little as it cooks, so it’s better to add about half of it right off, see how it thickens, and then you can add more. You may not need all your slurry, and if it’s too thick you need to thin it with more broth or water.

Add the chicken pieces and then the butter.

Serve with corn bread or wide chow mein noodles. I usually make corn muffins or hoe cakes. Those Jiffy cornbread mixes are great--six muffins or a mess of hoe cakes, and all you need is an egg and milk.