From the Culinary SOS archive: Chicken!

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Jan sent me an e-mail recently asking for a Culinary SOS for chicken from our archive:

‘I remember a Culinary SOS recipe from the late 1970s that I would love to have again. It was an entree called Gingerhouse Chicken Popeye. It was a delicious boneless chicken breast... with spinach, garlic and Swiss or Gruyère cheese.... It was the first time that I remember enjoying spinach! Thank you in advance for your time and help trying to locate this recipe.’

I tracked down the recipe, which we ran on June 9, 1977. The dish -- pan-fried chicken and spinach topped with with warm, melted cheese (doesn’t everything taste better under a topping of melted cheese?!?), reminded me of a more recent Culinary SOS, for the Chicken with gorgonzola (pictured at right) from La Finestra, which we ran a little over a year ago.

Enjoy, Jan!

The original Chicken Popeye recipe from Gingerhouse follows the jump. For a variety of other chicken recipes, check our online database.

Click here for more Culinary SOS recipes. If you have a favorite restaurant recipe you’d like to request, feel free to e-mail me at noelle.carter@latimes.com. I’ll do my best to track it down.

-- Noelle Carter
twitter/noellecarter

GINGERHOUSE CHICKEN POPEYE 6 (4- to 6-ounce) boneless breasts of chicken

Flour

2 eggs

Olive oil

2 cups chopped cooked spinach

3 cups grated Jack or Swiss cheese

Salt, pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

Dash nutmeg

2 cups sliced mushrooms

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

1/4 cup dry white wine

Remove skin and fat from chicken. Dredge in flour and dip in 1 egg, beaten. Heat about 2 tablespoons olive oil in skillet for each batch of chicken breasts. Saute a few at a time to avoid crowding in the pan until golden on both sides. Remove and set aside on warm platter.

To the spinach add 2 cups cheese, salt and pepper to taste, half the garlic, nutmeg, remaining egg, beaten, and mix well. Set aside and keep warm.

Next, saute mushrooms in butter until tender. Add wine and remaining garlic. Cook and stir until heated. Set aside.

To serve, place spinach mixture on platter. Spoon mushroom mixture over spinach. Arrange chicken breasts over mushrooms. Cover with remaining cheese and bake at 400 degrees about 5 minutes until cheese melts and is golden brown. Makes 6 servings.