Chicken Tetrazzini
Aug. 31st, 2013 12:20 pmI have found that I am less and less likely to buy and read cookbooks. I have a shelf-full of them, but I mostly find recipes online (or scan them into MasterCook) and look there. I have lots of recipes I haven't converted yet from the old MasterCook version; I think I got to "C" or so, which means I have lots of chicken recipes but not a lot of pork ones.
So when I went looking for a chicken recipe, I found something that I didn't remember making before, and it sounded very tasty, but not very healthy. So, of course, I made it.
Tetrazzini is not an Italian dish, oddly enough; it's American. The recipe I have is from Gourmet Magazine.
4 pounds chicken—cut in pieces
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 pound mushrooms—thinly sliced
3 tablespoons medium dry sherry
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
nutmeg—to taste
1/2 pound spaghetti
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese—grated
2 tablespoons flour
In a kettle, combine the chicken with enough salted water to cover it by 2 inches. Bring water to a boil, and simmer the chicken for 20 minutes or until it is tender. Let chicken cool in the broth, separate the meat from the skin and bones, returning the skin and bones to the broth. Cut the meat into strips and reserve. Simmer the broth until it is reduced by half, strain through a fine sieve, discarding the solids. Skim off fat. Boil the stock until it is reduced to about 2 cups.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook the mushrooms in 2 tbsp butter over mod-low heat, stirring, until they are softened. In a kettle of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti until it is al dente. Drain it well. In a saucepan melt remaining butter over mod-low heat. Add flour and cook the roux, stirring, for 3 minutes. Whisk in the reserved broth, cream and sherry. Bring the sauce to a boil, whisking, and simmer it for 5 minutes. Season with nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.
Stir half into the mushrooms with the spaghetti and transfer it to a well-buttered 2-1/2-qt. baking dish, making a well in the center. Add the chicken meat to the remaining sauce, combine well. Spoon this into the center of the spaghetti and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake in the middle of a preheated 350F oven for 25-30 minutes or until pale golden in color. Serve immediately.
Now, I left out the nutmeg as I object to it except in pumpkin and squash pies and confectionary of that nature. The rest of the recipe, though fiddly, is rather good. I am a great believer in making chicken broth if you're going to use it. Unfortunately, it's so much easier to use chicken powder or bouillon cubes that I don't do it often. This worked perfectly, and I have some left over in the fridge for, perhaps, chicken orzo soup.
I didn't use Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry, as that's a bit too tasty for cooking. I also didn't use cooking sherry, as that's vile stuff that should never grace a cupboard. I used Tesco's best dry sherry, won at a church raffle. It was nice, and it gave me an excuse to have some Harvey's on the rocks. I do have Chinese rice wine, which is sherry-like in flavour, so if you have some of that you could use it rather than make a trip to the package store.
I didn't have a ceramic or glass baking dish big enough for this, so I used my metal pot. Just right. I greased the sides with a bit of butter on a paper towel, wiping it around the sides the the bottom. Worked a treat.
HWMBO loved the dish and took some to work the next day for lunch. The dish has a creamy, buttery, cheesy taste that brings me back to the days when we could eat cream, butter, and cheese to our hearts' delight. As long as you don't eat it weekly, or dishes like it, you too can relive the days of the 1950's, when Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook was the King of Cookbooks.
So when I went looking for a chicken recipe, I found something that I didn't remember making before, and it sounded very tasty, but not very healthy. So, of course, I made it.
Tetrazzini is not an Italian dish, oddly enough; it's American. The recipe I have is from Gourmet Magazine.
Gourmet's Chicken Tetrazzini


4 pounds chicken—cut in pieces
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 pound mushrooms—thinly sliced
3 tablespoons medium dry sherry
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
nutmeg—to taste
1/2 pound spaghetti
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese—grated
2 tablespoons flour
In a kettle, combine the chicken with enough salted water to cover it by 2 inches. Bring water to a boil, and simmer the chicken for 20 minutes or until it is tender. Let chicken cool in the broth, separate the meat from the skin and bones, returning the skin and bones to the broth. Cut the meat into strips and reserve. Simmer the broth until it is reduced by half, strain through a fine sieve, discarding the solids. Skim off fat. Boil the stock until it is reduced to about 2 cups.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook the mushrooms in 2 tbsp butter over mod-low heat, stirring, until they are softened. In a kettle of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti until it is al dente. Drain it well. In a saucepan melt remaining butter over mod-low heat. Add flour and cook the roux, stirring, for 3 minutes. Whisk in the reserved broth, cream and sherry. Bring the sauce to a boil, whisking, and simmer it for 5 minutes. Season with nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.
Stir half into the mushrooms with the spaghetti and transfer it to a well-buttered 2-1/2-qt. baking dish, making a well in the center. Add the chicken meat to the remaining sauce, combine well. Spoon this into the center of the spaghetti and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake in the middle of a preheated 350F oven for 25-30 minutes or until pale golden in color. Serve immediately.
Now, I left out the nutmeg as I object to it except in pumpkin and squash pies and confectionary of that nature. The rest of the recipe, though fiddly, is rather good. I am a great believer in making chicken broth if you're going to use it. Unfortunately, it's so much easier to use chicken powder or bouillon cubes that I don't do it often. This worked perfectly, and I have some left over in the fridge for, perhaps, chicken orzo soup.
I didn't use Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry, as that's a bit too tasty for cooking. I also didn't use cooking sherry, as that's vile stuff that should never grace a cupboard. I used Tesco's best dry sherry, won at a church raffle. It was nice, and it gave me an excuse to have some Harvey's on the rocks. I do have Chinese rice wine, which is sherry-like in flavour, so if you have some of that you could use it rather than make a trip to the package store.
I didn't have a ceramic or glass baking dish big enough for this, so I used my metal pot. Just right. I greased the sides with a bit of butter on a paper towel, wiping it around the sides the the bottom. Worked a treat.
HWMBO loved the dish and took some to work the next day for lunch. The dish has a creamy, buttery, cheesy taste that brings me back to the days when we could eat cream, butter, and cheese to our hearts' delight. As long as you don't eat it weekly, or dishes like it, you too can relive the days of the 1950's, when Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook was the King of Cookbooks.