A Celebration Dinner

On Friday, my musically-inclined friend defended her honors thesis. The two of us have stuck together throughout the year-long research-and-writing process, and we've established a regular weekly work night -- a time when we know we'll get things accomplished in good company. It seemed only natural, then, to celebrate the completion of her thesis as well as mine. Lending a nice bit of symmetry to everything thesis-related, I chose the recipe for our celebratory dinner from my thesis community cookbook.

The recipe, poppyseed chicken, is from a very good friend of mine who actually works within our honors program here at my school. She had touted it to me as a "great (EASY) dish to serve when your boss is coming to dinner"; having no real boss, at least one that I would be inviting to dinner, I figured our Friday dinner could be reason enough to try out the yummy-sounding recipe.


Now, I for one am not usually a "cream of" cook; I don't normally cook from recipes that include cans of "cream of" soup. This proclivity is for two reasons: 1) recipes including "cream of" soup often result in relatively large yields, and leftovers, not matter how good, aren't really my thing; and 2) many of the "cream of" soups available are not particularly healthy. If this second concern is one of yours also, I'm sure you can find a recipe online to replace canned soup with homemade. You really should consider it.

I cannot tell you how simple this recipe was, and with what great results. My four dinner companions all said they heartily enjoyed it, and that was even before the wine kicked in. Once the wine kicked in... well, that's another story.


Poppyseed Chicken
from Amy Welch

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and torn/cut into pieces
1 c sour cream (choose your preferred level of fat)
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 tbsp poppyseeds
1 c Ritz crackers, crumbled
4 tbsp butter

Mix the chicken pieces, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and poppyseeds and dump the mixture into a 9"x13" casserole. Sprinkle the top of the mixture with the Ritz crumbs, and slice the butter evenly over the top. Cover the casserole with foil, and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Serve over rice.