Chicken Tetrazzini
from Martha Stewart online
Coarse salt and ground pepper
6 tablespoons butter
1 lb white mushrooms, trimmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick (you can buy them washed, trimmed, and sliced at the grocery store!)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup dry white wine
3 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 lb linguine, broken in half
1 rotisserie chicken, skin removed, mead shredded (about 4 cups)
1 package (10 oz) frozen peas, thawed and drained
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil (for pasta). In a large saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter over hight heat. Add mushrooms, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing frequently, until tender and browned 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, and set aside.
2) Make sauce: In same saucepan, melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add flour; cook, whisking about 1 minute. Whisking constantly, gradually add milk, broth, and wine. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, and add 2 cups Parmesan and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.
3) Cook pasta 2 minutes less than package instructions for al dente; drain and return to pot. Add sauce, chicken, peas, and mushrooms. Toss well to combine. Divide between two shallow 2 quart baking dishes; sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Freeze or bake until browned, about 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
This recipe was messy and I learned a few valuable lessons that will make the implementation next time much more successful.
Lesson #1: Prepare in advance. Have all your materials ready to go before you start: chicken shredded, parmesan grated, peas thawed, milk, chicken stock, wine measured out.
To thaw the peas, I put them in a colander and ran them under some water. Then drained them and set them aside. Splurge for fresh grated or block Parmesan. The taste is really unbeatable.
See the prepackaged mushrooms between the milk and water. Those babies are a huge timesaver! This is the first time I've ever cooked with fresh mushrooms so I wanted to take all the help I could get from the grocery store. Also notice that, yes, I said water. I somehow used all my chicken stock earlier in the week and didn't have any. Oops. So I just used water instead.
Mushrooms before. Forgot to take an after picture. Another oops! But the recipe is true, cook them 8 - 10 minutes (I cooked them 9) and they were brown and soft.
I also wanted to show you what happens when you add the flour to the butter. It gets clumpy and makes what is called a roux. At first it looks like you've totally messed up the recipe! It helps to thicken the sauce. And no, it doesn't stay clumpy. That's why the recipe says "whisk constantly". It's important to work through the lumps when you are pouring in the liquids.
Lesson #2: When the sauce is done and you're going to assemble the dish, split the ingredients into the two baking dishes BEFORE adding the sauce. Divide the peas, mushrooms, chicken, and linguine into two square 8 x 8 baking dishes. Then pour half the sauce into each dish. Stir each dish to combine. Trying to get the ENTIRE combined dish into two smaller ones was a little bit of a nightmare - linguine was EVERYWHERE!
This recipe makes 2, 8 x 8 dishes FULL. This is the one I will freeze.
This is the one we're going to eat tonight.
Lesson #3: Make on a weekend when you have time. I'm glad that I made it on a Sunday night because I can send it / eat it for lunch tomorrow. This recipe was a little labor intensive, but I think would be a lot easier next time with adherence to my three lessons learned :)
The Verdict:
It was worth the effort! This recipe has a nice mild flavor and was creamy and delicious. I was worried about using the 2% milk, because the recipe called for whole milk. The sauce wasn't quite as thick as it could have been, but it was still good and worth the smaller amount of fat. Each 8 x 8 dish will make 4 generous portions. Serve with a side salad and it makes for a great meal. This would be an easily customizable recipe to add any kinds of veges you wanted. I'm looking forward to having the freezer one ready for the future.
Directions to cook frozen dish: Defrost in refrigerator the night before you want to eat it. Cook as directed.
Hope you enjoy!
Hope you enjoy!
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Did the lack of chicken broth/substitution of water have a significant affect on the final taste?
ReplyDeleteNot that I could tell. The final dish was still moist. It was probably a little more bland that what it would have been with the chicken stock since it had sodium that the final dish no longer has. But, I did add some salt along the way to compensate for that too. It's still a pretty tasty dish. I splurged at the grocery store and bought a $10 chunk of Parmesan (vs. the regular $4 chunk) that said it had been aged 3 (or 5, can't remember which) years for extra flavor. Let me tell you, it packed a punch. So I think that really helped the flavor too.
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