Chicken Tetrazzini

I've never been a huge fan of tetrazzini because it often includes cream soup, which I typically don't eat. This recipe, however, didn't contain any sign of cream soup. It's from Giada and was highly rated (Giada rarely lets me down!). I honestly don't remember ever making tetrazzini so I thought we'd give it a try and see if we liked it.

We did.

This is actually really, really tasty and a fairly versatile recipe. You could mix in any vegetables you wanted (she suggests peas), use turkey instead of chicken, etc. You could even use any type of noodle - which is what I did! I went to pull the pasta from the pantry and of course, had forgotten the linguine the recipe called for so I used egg noodles instead. Since eating long strands of noodles can be annoying, I honestly loved the change in noodle size. So much easier to mix together with the sauce and easier to eat!

I did make some changes, including cutting the milk back and using rotisserie chicken instead of cooking my own. I also left out the peas since I would have picked them out anyways. The recipe below indicates all of my changes; if you'd like to see Giada's original recipe, click here.

It's not a quick weeknight meal but, thanks to the use of the rotisserie chicken, truly did not take that long even after a day of work. I did a few things to save even more time - I used frozen chopped onions, instead of chopping my own, and I grated my garlic over the pan instead of mincing each clove. This also makes a huge portion - especially for just the two of us - so we can have several more meals out of it. That always makes a more time consuming recipe okay in my book.

My absolute favorite part of this recipe is the slightly crunchy noodles that browned at the top. Delicious!

Chicken Tetrazzini
7 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded, or rotisserie chicken meat
Salt and 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
3 cups 2% milk, room temperature
1 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature
1 cup chicken broth
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
12 ounces egg noodles (or linguine, if you want to be authentic)
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup dried Italian-style breadcrumbs (or, plain breadcrumbs mixed with Italian seasonings)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray (or butter it) and set aside.

Put the cooked, shredded chicken in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

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, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 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 pasta and cook until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally. Drain. Add the pasta, sauce, 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.