Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Chicken Tetrazzini

Alexis found this aged and ragged cookbook several years ago in an antique store where she was buying some old farmhouse windows. She didn't buy it for use, she bought it because she thought it was adorable.

They are yellowed typewritten pages held together with two simple binder rings. Even the category tabs are typed.

I thought that the Forward reminded me of all of us food bloggers.

I've flipped through it's weathered pages once or twice but have never actually made anything from it until tonight.
Honestly that is because some of the recipes are poorly written, have imprecise measurements, and use a lot of cream of "x" soups. I haven't found anything online, but based on the recipes, I'd guess this was written sometime in the 60's to early 70's.

Chicken Tetrazzini

adapted from You Asked For It Cookbook

Ingredients
8 oz spaghetti noodles
2 cups chicken, cooked and diced

4 Tbsp butter

6 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup half and half

1/2 tsp black pepper, ground

1/2 tsp red pepper, ground

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup mushrooms (we used jarred mushrooms, drained)

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup parmesan cheese


Instructions

Cook pasta according to directions.


Melt butter over medium high heat and whisk in flour until well blended. (I did mine in the same pan that I had used to cook the chicken to get all the leftover flavor.) Whisk in the broth 1/2 cup at a time. Then whisk in the half and half. Stir in the black pepper, red pepper, and salt.


Toss the warm pasta, chicken, mushrooms, peas, and red pepper together in a casserole dish. Pour the sauce over the pasta mixture.


Top with the bread crumbs and then the parmesan cheese. Bake in a 350f oven for 30 minutes.


Three out of four of us liked this creamy dish. Trevor (10) did not like it but he's a picky eater.

Vanity Plates
You know those vanity plates some people get for their cars? I got a "vanity plate" for my Big Green Egg. Yes, you are looking into an empty Big Green Egg but they don't really glow green like that.

More on this to come after I've actually cooked on it. If you're wondering how I got this shot, I used this technique I played with on my photo blog.