Growing up with comfort food.
The oven opens and out comes the pan. The smell of toasted croissant, warm sauce, chicken and cheese… lot’s of cheese, wafts through the air. To a teenager who still doesn’t like most food that adults pretend to like (
Cauliflower) this was a haven at family gatherings.
Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any other family event there was one thing I could look forward to.
So, they may have some other name, but in my family’s house growing up we called them Glen Rolls. Uncle Glen loved these things. So we named them after him. I was also named after him, Darrell Glen Wolfe, so I had two reasons to enjoy these things.
Eventually time past and I learned to make them myself, and my tastes have expounded so I improved on the recipe. Sometimes I stick to the original because it’s just that good.
There is one big problem with these… I can’t not eat them. I make one batch and it rarely lasts the night. I make extra to take for lunch and rarely does that last the night either.
So without further ado, here is how to make my favorite comfort food!
Glen Rolls Prep
Ingredients:- Shredded Chicken
- Cheese
- Croissant Rolls
- Salt and Pepper to taste.
The sauce- Cream of Chicken (or whatever you want) soup.
- One or two cans of sauce for every eight croissants.
- Milk (or soy/almond milk if you prefer, which we do), used to thin the sauce out.
Prep:
- Pre Heat Oven to 350
- Prepare a flat surface to do some rolling and stuffing. Laying down some plastic wrap, wax paper, or other non stickiness to the surface can be helpful!
These are the base, the canvass. I’ve learned to add and build on this over time. Things to consider.
The Protein
For the chicken, on a budget you could just get canned chicken meat near the tuna at the store. You could boil chicken breasts to shred. Or you could go all out, bake, broil, barbeque, etc your chicken with spices and rubs then shred it. You could substitute chicken for other meats.
Cheese and Stuffing
I typically use the packet of pre shredded Monterey Jack and Colby grocery store cheese. But you could use anything here.
I often cut into very fine pieces random extras. Maybe onion, garlic, bell pepper, or any other veggie or stuffing you like.
Mix your shredded chicken, cheese, salt, pepper, and any extras you are adding together in a large mixing bowl.
The sauce
In a separate bowl mix the cream of chicken (or cream of what you like) soup with milk.
Add Milk until you reach a texture you like.
You are going for a sauce here so add what you need to retain some thickness but have a saucy consistency.
I’ve never quite nailed down an exact amount, so go with what you want. Not too thin or thick. Maybe gravy like consistency?
Just a bit too thin could be better than too thick so it spreads well, and then pours on top when serving.
Putting it together, the Glen Rolls recipe
Phase One- Lay down a thin layer of the sauce in a large rectangular baking pan.
- Just a thin layer for stickiness. Keep most of the sauce for later.
- Lay out your croissant and either with a roller or you hand, flatten it out some.
- Take a portion of the stuffing mixture, maybe a heaping tablespoon, and place it onto the thick end of the triangle.
- Wrap and roll it all up. You may have some sticking out, but try to wrap it up fairly well.
- Place these rolls into the baking pan. Feel free to stuff them together, but leave just a breath of room between them so the sides bake. They can be touching, but just barely.
- Place these into the preheated over (350*F)
- Bake for Aprx 10-15 minutes. The croissants should be browning, basically looking like a good roll would if you were just making rolls.
- When these are basically cooked through you are going to pull them out and add the sauce.
- Pour sauce all over these rolls, cover thoroughly.
- Top with as much cheese as you like… I like a lot.
- And yes, that’s cheese inside and on top… these are NOT healthy, their comfort food!
Phase Two- Put back into oven and bake another 20-30 minutes.
- Cheese should be browned just a tad and sauce boiling.
- Pull them out and let cool for 10 minutes.
Serve
Serve them two or three to a person along with any other sides you may want. I often just scoop them into a big bowl and devour them, but you could go for a prettier presentation. For me that two or three often becomes 5-10. If you make them with larger croissants they may be more filling.
I hope you try and enjoy these. If you aren’t totally satisfied with the base version. Improvise. Change the protein and cheese. Try Salmon and Gouda with a cream of mushroom? Explore and create your own canvas.
So here’s my question for you? What is YOUR favorite comfort food?
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Life In Fort Worth by Darrell G. Wolfe
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