Leftover Chicken

The chicken fingers at the Publix Deli are pretty good, at least a little healthier than the rotisserie stuff, and we always either get "not enough" or "about two servings too much", so I frequently experiment with ways to use up the leftover fingers. After watching the latest issue from Dragon*Con TV, I was inspired to assemble the following:


Chicken Not-Chowder

• leftover chicken fingers
• one can, Campbell's Cream of Chicken with Herbs Soup
• chicken broth, enough to refill above can (instead of using water or milk)
• one bag, Jasmine "instant" rice
• one can corn
• Garlic and Herb Seasoning (salt substitute)

Implements: second-largest soup/sauce/pasta pan; sharp knife; microwaveable bowl; stirring implement; can-opener

1. Cut leftover chicken fingers into very large chunks, approximately two-thirds the size of my thumb. Set aside in microwaveable bowl.


2. In second-largest soup/pasta pan, dump Cream of Chicken With Herbs Soup. Refill can with chicken broth, dump that in as well, stir. Start heating at about Medium to Medium-High on the stovetop dial.


3. Add in one bag of Jasmine rice, less the bag. Stir. Stir again. Rice needs about eight minutes to cook; stare at it a minute, shrug, go see what's happening in the living room.


4. Oh crap, the soup! Stir. Slightly adjust stovetop dial downward, but not too far -- no cooler than 4ish. Stir until rice moves freely. Open can of corn, letting juice from can dribble into soup. Pour in corn, stir.


5. With one hand, chuck bowl of chicken into microwave. Nuke about 1:40. Stir soup. What time did I pour the rice in, again?


6. Season with Garlic & Herb salt substitute. Stir until seasoning completely disappears. Season again. Stir again. When it takes a while for the seasoning to disappear, it's properly seasoned.


7. Add chicken. Stir.


8. Call for a volunteer to taste-test. Stir.


9. If volunteer doesn't comment that rice is crunchy, then it must be done; pierce soup with stirring utensil, let go, see if stirring utensil remains upright. Show wookieegunner that wooden utensil remains upright, thus making this more his kind of soup than mine; pose for picture.


10. Divide contents into serving dishes.

I ripped up a sandwich-sized piece of swiss cheese and arranged the fragments artistically over my bowl of "soup", then left it to cool off enough that I wouldn't burn my mouth; this dish definitely qualified as "comfort food". Perhaps it would've been more virtuous to add some non-starchy vegetables, but they wouldn't have fit in that pan -- I'd have to start with the largest soup pan, or upgraded to a full-blown pot.