Chicken Tetrazzini, my way.

My sister has a friend who gave her two beautiful heads of golden cauliflower the other day.  My sister gave one to me.  It was a gorgeous color and I wanted to use it when it was fresh.  I had already defrosted two boneless, skinless chicken breasts, so it was time to hunt for a recipe.

There are a number of sites that allow you to put in ingredients and will search recipes using them.  Dole foods has one with a focus on healthy eating. 

http://www.dole.com/EatrightPantry/tabid/909/Default.aspx

Another favorite of mine is foodtv.com.  This is the website for the Food Network.  You can type your ingredients in the search bar and it will find recipes using them.  This is where I found the Chicken Tetrazzini recipe I used as an outline for my dinner.

 

 

Isn't the golden cauliflower pretty?

 

 Rachael Ray created this recipe and it sounded really yummy. Here are the ingredients she listed.  

Kosher salt

1 small head cauliflower

8 ounces extra-wide egg noodles

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter

8 ounces assorted fresh mushrooms or white mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 large or 2 medium shallots, finely chopped

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup dry sherry

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup heavy cream

Freshly ground pepper

Freshly grated nutmeg

3 to 4 cups shredded Poached Chicken Breasts, recipe follows

1 cup panko

1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

 

This recipe calls for making a wine cream sauce and baking everything together in a casserole sprinkled with buttered breadcrumbs and Parmigiano-Reggiano.  The only problem was, I didn't have all of these ingredients.  That's o.k. though.  There are many things that can be substituted and still provide you with a very tasty dish. 

 

My family doesn't like buttered breadcrumbs on their casseroles.  O.K.  Scratch that right off the list.  I can't afford Parmigiano-Reggiano, but I have regular grated parm.  I don't have fresh parsley, so I just leave it out.  Parlsey looks very nice, but it isn't a strong flavor and likely won't be missed. 

 

The major things I didn't have were sherry, heavy cream and shallots. 

 

I never have sherry in the house, but I have a bottle of Marsala wine.  We like to make chicken Marsala and usually have some on hand.  For a wine cream sauce, you can safely substitute any white wine you like the taste of.  If you don't drink, use more chicken stock.  Leaving the wine out will change the flavor of the sauce quite a bit.

 

Shallots are similar to onions, with a slightly garlicy flavor.  I used one onion and added an additional clove of garlic.

 

Heavy cream sure is tasty, but it is very high in calories and fat.  Not to mention I never seem to use it all up before it goes bad.  A terrific alternative to cream is evaporated milk.  It is much lower in calories and fat (you can get evaporated skimmed milk too) and it is shelf stable.  Aldi's had it for $.65 a can today.  It is nice and thick and doesn't usually curdle.  I use it in place of cream for most cooking.  It makes lovely cream soups too. 

 

I started out by cooking the cauliflower and poaching the chicken breasts.  I added celery leaves, a couple baby carrots, some onion, salt, pepper and dried thyme into the water when I poached the chicken.  The trick to tender chicken breasts is to not let the water boil.  Bring it up to a simmer and let the chicken poach gently.  If it boils hard the chicken will get tough.

 

 

 

 

You can cook the cauliflower and poach the chicken in advance.  You can also use frozen cauliflower and any left-over chicken you have on hand.  I also cooked my pasta while these items cooked.  While everything was simmering, I chopped my mushrooms, onions and garlic.

 



 

I melted 4 tablespoons of butter and started cooking the mushrooms.  When they softenend I added the onions and garlic.

 

 

 

While these cooked, I drained the cauliflower, the pasta, and cut up the chicken.  Then I washed all those pans, so I didn't have a sink full after dinner.  When the onions were getting see-through, I sprinkled the flour over it all.  The flour and butter cooked together creates a roux.  This will thicken your liquid.

 



 

I cooked them and stirred them together for a minute. 

 

 

 

Then I added the chicken stock and brought it to a boil, while stirring.  When it started to thicken, I added the 1 cup of evaporated milk.  I let that come back up to a good boil.  I seasoned it with salt and pepper, and a little nutmeg. 

 

 

 

Then I mixed the cauliflower, chicken, pasta and sauce all togther, poured it into a casserole dish and sprinkled it with greated parm. 

 

Into a 400 degree oven it went  for about 30 minutes, and we had a lovely dinner!

Don't be afraid to adjust recipes to suit your panty and your taste buds.  As you experiment, you will find things that work well and that you like.  Think of recipes as an outline, not something carved in cement.