Originally from The Doubleday Cookbook as Chicken (or Turkey) Noodle Casserole. Everything is cooked before it goes into the oven. The oven is just to get it hot and meld the ingredients/flavors, and to toast the croutons of course. A good use for left over chicken (or turkey), especially good with smoked chicken ;-)
| 4 ½ C (6-8 oz - half package) | Uncooked fusilli/radiatori/farfalle pasta |
| ¼ C (1 stick) | Butter |
| 1 ¼ C | All purpose flour |
| 1 C | Milk |
| 1 C | Chicken stock |
| 2 C | Chicken, in bite sized pieces (see instructions if raw) |
| 1 C | Frozen peas |
| ½ Can | Whole kernel corn |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| ¼-½ tsp | Ground black pepper |
| ⅛-¼ tsp | Ground nutmeg |
| to cover | Bread croutons, cracker crumbs, or Panko |
| 1 C | Fresh vegtables - e.g., bell pepper, mushrooms, sliced, sautéd in olive oil |
In a 4-quart sauce pan, at medium heat, melt the butter until hot, almost bubbling. Whisk in the flour until all the butter is incorporated into the flour. Continue to heat until it starts to brown, then whisk in the liquid slowly, incorporating each addition before continuing, small additions at the start, larger as it becomes more fluid. After all the liquid is added, continue heating and whisking until it starts to thicken. If it thickens too much, add a little milk or stock and whisk. Mix in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then turn off the heat.
Cut the chicken into bite size pieces (or a little larger as they'll shrink during cooking). Put in a bowl, add some salt and pepper and stir to mix. Heat a frying pan to medium high and add a couple of tablespoons of oil. After the pan is hot, add as many pieces of chicken will cover the pan bottom. Let the pieces sit a bit to start browning, then turn. Keep frying until all the outside rawness is gone and the pieces have some resistance when pressed. When almost done, turn off the heat and let them finish via the residual heat.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cook noodles according to the package directions. Stir in the noodles, chicken, peas, veggies to the béchamel in the sauce pan. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt, pepper, ... as necessary. Transfer the pan contents to a 2-quart oven safe casserole. Cover with a layer of fresh croutons, they'll toast during the baking. Bake uncovered 25 to 30 minutes until bubbly round the edges and the croutons are lightly browned.
4-5 servings