Chicken Alexander is a familiar dish to everyone. It’s been on restaurant menus, frozen meals you buy at the store and probably and in my case, your grandmother’s cook book. However when I was looking to see what the origin of this dish was the infamous “google” was irritatingly vague. I learned it is a old dish; dates back to somewhere around the 1800s, it’s also known as King’s Chicken, and it made a comeback in the 60s and 70s. No one seems to know who made it first but something we can all agree on are the 3 basic traits of Chicken Alexander: Chicken, white wine cream sauce, and veggies.

Ingredients:

• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2-4)
• 4 Tablespoons of flour
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 large onion chopped and diced
• 1 veggie of your choice chopped (I used carrot)
• 1 Cup of white port wine
• 1 can 10.5oz of beef consommé, undiluted (if you don’t have this or can’t find it beef stock works well too)
• 1/4 to 1/2 Cup of half and half

Instructions:

1. Heat your oven to 350 F
2. Wash chicken, drain and pat dry. Shake chicken in a paper bag with flour, salt, and pepper until all pieces are well coated
3. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Fry chicken slowly until golden brown adding more butter if you need to
4. Place chicken in a roasting pan with a lid and add onions and your choice of veggie on top
5. Pour over the chicken and veggies your beef consommé and wine
6. Cover and place in the over at 350 F for 35 minutes or until fork tender
7. Remove the pan from the oven and place the chicken on a warm platter. Place the roasting pan over low heat on the stove.
8. Add more butter (1 Tablespoon) and flour (1-2 Tablespoons) stirring until the mixture is smooth
9. Remove from heat and add enough half and half to make a sauce. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring.
10. Pour sauce over chicken and you are ready to serve!

Grandma’s recipe comes from a good friend and relative Aunt Ann Sarri’s Slovenian-American Cookbook. According to Aunt Sarri’s notes this came from a professional Slovenian cook. Aunt Ann is actually my great great aunt (my paternal grandfather’s aunt). For most of her life she was located in Ely, Minnesota and my dad’s family used to visit for at least 2 weeks every year. Those two weeks in Ely and the random and trips to Cedarburg, Wisconsin (where my dad grew up) gave Ann and Grandma Bev ample opportunity to get to know each other and become close friends.

I’m honestly excited to dive more into Aunt Ann’s recipes. Not only do they have more of my family history behind them, but the relationship between her and my grandmother seemed really strong. Making these recipes almost seems like reading letters being exchanged by two close friends. It feels like walking into an already lit kitchen with these two women at the table sipping coffee and chatting. Hopefully they don’t mind if I leave the kitchen light on and sit down with them for a while.