Last night I tried a new dish. Now, it says that the prep time is supposed to be about 35 minutes and that the cooking time is supposed to be about an hour which means that if I started cooking around 7 that we should have eaten around 8:30. I guess, in retrospect, I wasn't that far off since we ate around 8:45. Anyway, I made a lovely chicken tetrazzini thanks to the Everyday Italian woman's recipe. I'll admit it's probably not the healthiest thing in the world but I substituted olive oil for butter in everything but the sauce and didn't use breadcrumbs (we don't like them) and it turned out really great. And it's a recipe that produces an enormous number of servings - 8 I think it says - so we have lots of leftovers. It's pretty rare that I make something on the first try and am happy with it - this was one of those rare occasions. The sauce even thickened up nicely like it was supposed to. If I had had the presence of mind I would have taken a picture of my big casserole dish full of chicken, linguine, mushrooms, onion, garlic, green beans and cream sauce and a picture of my husband enjoying it but I didn't. So I guess it's all about your imagination.
If you want to try it, here's the original recipe. I substituted green beans for peas because we like beans better, and I used light olive oil instead of butter in everything but the sauce (I went ahead and melted the butter for the sauce), I used 2% milk instead of whole milk, and I left out the breadcrumbs and dotting the top surface with butter because we're not big fans of the "crusty brown top" that some dishes get - we'd rather have just a nice hot top without the crunchy. So instead I just grated fresh parmesan over the top and it was nice and gooey.
Chicken Tetrazzini by Giada de Laurentiis
9 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 pound white mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk, room temperature
1 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature
1 cup chicken broth
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
12 ounces linguine
3/4 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup dried Italian-style breadcrumbsPreheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spread 1 tablespoon of butter over a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish. Melt 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil in a deep large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the hot pan and cook until pale golden and just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate to cool slightly. Coarsely shred the chicken into bite-size pieces and into a large bowl.
Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon each of butter and oil to the same pan. Add the mushrooms and saute over medium-high heat until the liquid from the mushrooms evaporates and the mushrooms become pale golden, about 12 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme, and saute until the onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until it evaporates, about 2 minutes. Transfer the mushroom mixture to the bowl with the chicken.
Melt 3 more tablespoons butter in the same pan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk, cream, broth, nutmeg, remaining 1 3/4 teaspoons salt, and remaining 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Increase the heat to high. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 10 minutes.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the linguine and cook until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 9 minutes. Drain. Add the linguine, sauce, peas, and parsley to the chicken mixture. Toss until the sauce coats the pasta and the mixture is well blended.
Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish. Stir the cheese and breadcrumbs in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the pasta. Dot with the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Bake, uncovered, until golden brown on top and the sauce bubbles, about 25 minutes.
So it's official, we're making Christmas Eve dinner this year. We offered and our offer was accepted so I started to plan the menu. I love planning menus! And on the 18th Steve and Sabrina are coming over to taste test our plan and help us adjust.
Roasted whole chicken basted with butter, and flavored with fresh rosemary and garlic (hopefully the garlic won't be overpowering)
creamed corn
green beans
mashed potatoes
rolls
tomato and mozzarella salad
homemade apple pie
Mental note to self: don't give the in-laws food poisoning on Christmas Eve. That would be bad bad bad!
