Chicken Italian

In 1978, I lived on the Westbank in  New Orleans, Louisiana.  I lived in a really nice apartment complex called Higgins Gate.  The entire complex was wiped out by hurricane Katrina in 2005 (long after I had left)  On Friday afternoons, I would ice down a case of Bud and go sit by the swimming pool.  Yes this was every Friday (or at least most of ‘em) as I remember.  People would come by and I would share my beer.  The catch was that when we ran out, someone else had to go get some more.  This worked really well for it meant we had a great party every Friday night plus after a while, people would just bring beer and we’d never run out.  One night a guy named Cary, an offshore welder and I were the last ones standing and we decided we wanted to get something to eat.  We were walking towards the parking lot when we ran into a neighbor, Jay.  Jay and his wife were both nurses and some of the nicest people you could ever meet.  I don’t remember where Jay’s wife, Becky was, but Jay was just getting home from a party.  We told Jay of our plans and he said that if someone else drove his truck, he would treat us to the best steak we ever ate.  So I was driving with jay in the middle and Cary at the passenger window. Jay was giving directions.  We drove over the I-10 Mississippi River Bridge and was headed west.  We went past Fat City/ Metairie and still heading west into nowhere.  I asked Jay where in the heck we were going.  His reply “Lake Charles!”  Now, Lake Charles is over 200 miles away from New Orleans  meaning we still had about a three hour drive on our hands.  Remember at that time even on the I-10 it was 55mph.   It wasn’t long before both Jay and Carey were asleep.  I took the opportunity to reverse direction back towards home.  When we got to Metairie, I saw a sign for Steak and Eggs and pulled in.  Carey woke up but we couldn’t get Jay’s attention long enough to ask if he wanted to come in.  We ate and headed back to Higgin’s Gate.  We managed to get Jay inside and closed the door behind him.  He slept in the apartment’s entryway.  The next afternoon, I was telling Jay the story.  He had no recollection of even seeing me, let alone the drive.  We laughed and he asked how he could make it up to me.  Oh boy, I knew the Answer right away.  One of the best things on the planet is:

 Jay and Becky’s Chicken Italian. (it was Becky’s Mother’s recipe)

5 lb chicken

2 qt chicken stock (made while cooking)

2 8oz pkg noodles

1 can mushrooms

2 tbsp cooking oil

2 green bell peppers

1 cup diced celery

2 chopped onions

2 cloves chopped garlic

2 cans tomato sauce

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 ½ tsp tobasco sauce

Parmesan cheese

In a saucepan, cook until tender in 2 tbsp oil, bell peppers, half the celery, half the onions, mushrooms, and garlic.

Add tomato sauce, Worcestershire, and tobasco.  Cook slowly one hour.

Cut up chicken and place in two qts water.

Put in the rest of the onion and celery and add some salt and pepper.  Boil until chicken is tender then bone and cut it up.

Use stock to cook the noodles and pour of excess.

Mix it all together.

Serve with Parmesan cheese.

You gonna want seconds!

I haven’t seen Jay and Becky in years, but I caught up with them on facebook.  Isn’t facebook fantastic?

Enjoy!