Chicken Breasts Mornay

This is the first of 5 recipe cards in Edith's handwriting. The recipe is in 2 parts. The baked chicken recipe also is used for Chicken Divan and would work with Orange Sauce.

Baked Chicken Breasts

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 4 chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup melted butter or margarine

Mix flour, salt and pepper. Dust chicken breasts with seasoned flour. Place in small shallow baking dish, skin side down. Pour melted butter or margarine over and around the chicken. Bake in 350°F oven for 30 minutes; turn chicken; bake 25 to 30 minutes longer, or until chicken is golden brown and tender when pierced with 2-tine fork, basting 2 to 3 times during baking. Pour mornay sauce over chicken and serve.

Mornay Sauce

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup chicken broth (I use 1 chicken bouillion cube dissolved in water and cooled)
• 3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon wet mustard*
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire
• 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

Melt butter in small saucepan, remove from heat. Blend in flour, salt and pepper; stir in milk and chicken broth (Be sure the chicken broth is cold or at least cool). Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until sauce thickens and boils, 1 minute. Add cheese, mustard and Worcestershire sauce; continue cooking, stirring occasionally until cheese melts, remove from heat. Stir in parsley.

*These days almost all mustard comes "wet," already prepared in jars with vinegar, horseradish and other additions. Until French's introduced their yellow mustard at the 1904 World's Fair, cooks relied on mustard seeds or ground mustard powder.

Edith's recipe card for Chicken Breasts Mornay