Poppyseed Chicken

It’s one of those casserole things that you would see at a church potluck, or as we used to call them in Arkansas, “covered dish dinners.”  I loved those potluck things - at church and at family functions.  I looked forward to counting the number of pastel colored dishes that involved some combination of Cool Whip, Jello, and fruit, and maybe some nuts (optional).  Pale green, pale pink - they were all delicious to me.  I could skip the English Pea Salad (with diced cheddar cheese, chopped boiled egg, and mayonnaise), and head right for something that contained rice and cheese and some kind of dry soup mix.  But here's a new one on me:

Poppyseed Chicken.  I'm sure this may be passe by now out in the burbs. And if your family or church members get together with any regularity, you may have tried this tasty stuff already.  My sister Sheila called me the other day to catch up, and ended up giving me this recipe that I made for the W. D. Deli’s Valentine get-together. Oh, yeah, I’ll be making it again. And soon. I think it'd be great with pasta or rice...  But that's just the Hope, Arkansas, Calvary Baptist Church coming out in me.

The version I made for the deli event filled two round chafing dishes, and here are my ingredients:

10 lbs. of cooked, shredded chicken
3 large (family size) cans of cream of chicken soup
3 lbs. of sour cream
2 cups poppyseeds
3 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons black pepper

Mix it all up “real good” and put it in pans or dishes ready to go into the oven.  But first -

The topping:

1 lb. butter or margarine, melted
1 box club crackers, crushed

Mix the cracker crumbs and the melted butter together and spread it on top of the chicken mixture.  Put the whole mess in the oven at 350 for about 30 or 40 minutes.

And if all that sounds too vague and large... Let me see if I can give you a smaller version that would serve two to four people, depending on how hungry you might be.

Ingredients:

2 or 3 chicken breasts, boiled then shredded
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. sour cream
a fourth cup poppyseeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

The topping:

1 stick butter or margarine, melted
1 stick/sleeve club crackers, crushed

Here’s the follow up.  Today Sheila called to tell me about still another recipe.  It’s a”one-up” on Monkey Bread.  It’s called “Gorilla Bread.”  I can hardly wait.