Chicken and Swiss Casserole

Driving back to Nashville Wednesday for junior year. The summer ended faster than I’d planned. Mama is now in the cafe-front-of-house transition mode — the plan she and Cody worked out over the past two weeks is that she’ll start helping Cody on prep work part-time in October when the cafe is closer to opening, ramp to full-time in February when the soft-launch prep starts in earnest, and become the formal front-of-house manager when the cafe opens its doors in early March. The diner severance plus unemployment benefits plus the cafe-consulting fee Cody is paying her for the prep planning covers her through the gap between now and February.

The arrangement is the right arrangement. Mama is going to spend the next eight months learning the cafe’s opening logistics from the inside out, which means by opening day she’ll know the menu, the rhythm, the suppliers, the regulars, and the rest of the staff Cody has been hiring. The cafe will open with the most knowledgeable front-of-house manager any small-town Sapulpa lunch counter has ever had.

Sunday I made chicken and Swiss casserole as the last-Sapulpa-Sunday meal of the summer because Mama had requested a casserole that would feed her through the next three days of rebudgeting the household after the diner closure. Casseroles are the right architecture for a one-person household-with-a-disrupted-rhythm because they reheat well, hold for days in the fridge, and don’t require Mama to think about food while she’s thinking about money.

The technique: poach two pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts in seasoned water for twenty minutes, cool, shred. Sauté eight ounces of cremini mushrooms sliced thick in butter for ten minutes until deeply browned. One small yellow onion diced and four cloves of garlic minced added with the mushrooms for the last five minutes.

The cream sauce: three tablespoons of butter melted, three tablespoons of flour whisked in to make a roux cooked two minutes, two cups of warm chicken broth poured in slowly while whisking, simmered five minutes until thickened, off the heat with a half-cup of full-fat sour cream and a tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Salt, pepper, two teaspoons of fresh thyme leaves, a pinch of nutmeg.

The assembly: combine the shredded chicken, the mushroom-onion-garlic mixture, and the cream sauce in a deep baking dish. Top with two cups of grated Swiss cheese (Swiss is the move — the nutty depth of Swiss against the chicken-and-cream-and-mushroom is the architectural secret of the dish; cheddar would be acceptable but is structurally wrong here), then a generous topping of buttered breadcrumbs (a cup of plain panko mixed with a quarter-cup of melted butter and a tablespoon of fresh chopped parsley).

Bake at three-seventy-five for thirty minutes uncovered until the cheese has melted and the breadcrumbs have crisped to a deep golden. Rest five minutes before serving. Mama got three meals out of the casserole and called me Tuesday on her break to tell me the third reheat was somehow even better than the first.

Roux-thickened cream sauce. Swiss not cheddar. Buttered breadcrumb top. Three-seventy-five for thirty. Here’s the build.

Chicken & Swiss Casserole

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 cups long-grain white rice, uncooked
• 2 cans (10.5 oz each) cream of chicken soup
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 6 slices Swiss cheese
• 1/2 cup crushed buttery crackers (such as Ritz)
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Mix the base. In a large bowl, whisk together the cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, sour cream, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper until smooth.
3. Add rice and chicken. Stir the uncooked rice and chicken pieces into the soup mixture until everything is evenly coated. Pour into the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer.
4. Add cheese. Lay the Swiss cheese slices evenly over the top of the casserole, covering as much of the surface as possible.
5. Make the topping. In a small bowl, combine the crushed crackers and melted butter. Sprinkle evenly over the cheese layer.
6. Bake covered. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
7. Finish uncovered. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10–15 minutes, until the topping is golden, the rice is tender, and the casserole is bubbling around the edges.
8. Rest and serve. Let the casserole sit for 5 minutes before serving so it sets up nicely. Serve straight from the dish.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 485 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 48g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 820mg