Chicken Supreme A.K.A. The Perfect Conference Dinner

So, I have this great conference dinner recipe that I am very excited to share with you. I got it out of a cookbook called The Essential Mormon Cookbook: Green Jell-O, Funeral Potatoes, and Other Secret Combinations by Julie Badger Jensen.

It is very similar to one of my favorite personal recipes for chicken. I like to wrap boneless, skinless chicken breasts in bacon (thick-cut applewood bacon, preferably), sprinkle generously with cracked black peppercorns, and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. So when I saw this bacon-wrapped chicken recipe, I knew I just had to try it.

I have that reaction a lot with recipes involving bacon. I just have to make them.

Either that - or I have to add bacon to recipes that don't call for it. Because...well...bacon just makes everything better.

ANYWAY - this recipe updates mine by adding a sauce...which is great.

I made a few changes to it, as well. For example, the recipe asks that the bacon be wrapped around the chicken raw, then you add the sauce, and then everything gets cooked together. But I find that the bacon doesn't get as done as I like it to be that way.

So I start the bacon and get it to the "cooked but not crispy" (so it's still maneuverable) stage, and THEN proceed with the rest of the recipe.

The restaurant secret to those nice flat strips of perfectly cooked bacon is this: they cook it in the OVEN, not in a skillet. I lay my bacon out on a broiler pan with vents so the juices and grease can drip down, and cook at 350 for about 20 minutes (or 400 for about 10-15 minutes, if I'm in a hurry), flipping once half-way through (I cover the pan at the bottom with a couple layers of foil to aid in quick clean-up). It takes a bit longer, but you get far better, and less greasy, results...especially if you're "precision cooking" it for another recipe like this one.

The best part (besides the bacon) about this recipe, is you put it all together the night before, and it cooks while you're away at conference. You put it in before you leave, and you don't even have to rush home...you can stand around in the foyer chatting with people for a few minutes about speakers and such, and then when you get home, you have just enough time to whip up a salad and heat some rolls, and it's done!!

There is no need to double, as it feeds eight!! (another bonus!)

Chicken Supreme

2 (2.5-ounce) packages smoked, sliced, pressed beef (lunch meat...like the Carl Budding kind)

16 slices of bacon (the recipe calls for eight...but since I pre-cook mine, the "shrinkage" means I need 2 strips for each chicken breast)

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cups sour cream

2 (10--3/4 oz.) cans cream of mushroom soup

1. Put beef slices in a greased 9x13-inch pan.

2. Roll two strips of bacon around each breast half. Fasten with toothpick if necessary. Layer over beef.

3. Combine sour cream and cream of mushroom soup. Pour over chicken. Cover with aluminum foil. Refrigerate overnight.

4. The next day, bake, covered, at 300 for 3 to 4 hours.

courtesy The Essential Mormon Cookbook: Green Jell-O, Funeral Potatoes, and Other Secret Combinations by Julie Badger Jensen