Chicken Tetrazzini

This is one of my all-time favorite meals, but it's a bit of work the first time or two you make it following the recipe in it's original form. I'm going to type up the recipe how I follow it so that you should have great luck the first time around!!

PREHEAT OVEN TO 375 DEGREES

16 oz spaghetti (thin or angel hair work best because they boil up so quickly!)
3 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
greased 9X13 pan

sauce:
6 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cayenne or black pepper
2 tsp salt
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese

mushroom:
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 lb sliced mushrooms

AT THE SAME TIME, have a large pot of water heating in order to boil the noodles, AND heat a pan with 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp lemon juice in it. Add pasta to boiling water and cook al dente (I just cook it the time listed on the package). Add sliced mushrooms to the heated butter/lemon juice. Stir frequently until cooked through and most of the juices are cooked off. (I generally have the three chicken breasts boiling in another pot at this same time to cook them through, but some people don't like to cook chicken this way. I think it's easy and it tastes just fine and dandy in the finished dish!)

Once you get your pasta and mushrooms going, heat a sauce pan with 6 Tbsp butter. Once melted, add your 6 Tbsp all purpose flour and stir for a few minutes. Add pepper and salt, then slowly add broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until slightly thickened. Once slightly thickened, add 1 1/2 cups half and half and 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese (we buy pre-grated for ease).

While your sauce is simmering, you can be dicing your chicken breasts.

When the pasta is done, drain the water and return to the large pot. Add the sauce and stir well. Put half the pasta/sauce mixture into a greased 9X13 dish. Layer with half the mushrooms and all of the diced chicken (I find adding the chicken as a layer instead of mixing it into the pasta/sauce mixture allows you to more evenly distribute it in the baking dish). Add remaining noodles/sauce. Pour any remaining sauce from the pot evenly over the dish. Add remaining mushrooms, then sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese. Your 9X13 pan will be FULL, and will probably appear a bit soupy (the pasta absorbs a lot of the liquid during baking).

Place in 375 degree oven for about a half hour (parmesan cheese should be browned and entire dish should be bubbly and hot when finished).

Cut and serve. YUM!!!!!!!!!!


This is also something that can be made ahead of time and then baked when it's needed. And don't let the large number of dirtied pots/pans detour you from attempting this dish. I promise you that when you taste the end result, you will find it all well worth the effort!!