creamy chicken mushroom and bacon fettuccine |
Serves 4:
ingredients:
225g. rindless bacon, chopped into smallish pieces
700g. approx of skinless chicken thigh fillets (i.e. no bones)
sea salt and ground black pepper
2 tbs olive oil
25g. (2.5 dsp) butter
7 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
350g. mushrooms, thinly sliced
125 mLs (1/2 cup) dry white wine
1 tbs fresh herbs, finely chopped - use your fave - thyme, parsley etc
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp chicken stock powder stirred into 125 mLs (1/2 cup) of boiling water
375 mLs (1.5 cups) of cream
125g. (1 cup) parmesan, grated
1.5 tbs cornflour mixed in with 65 mLs (1/4 cup) of milk
1 cup of cooked peas, or 2 cups of baby spinach leaves
2 tbs parsley, finely chopped
fresh basil, torn with your fingers - try a handful, or to taste
350g. of fettucine, cooked as per the packet instructions
Method:
First fry the bacon pieces in a large frypan over medium-high heat
Scoop them out when nicely browned and put aside
Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper
Add 1 tbs olive oil to the pan, bring to the heat and place the chicken fillets in the pan
Let them cook till you have a lovely brown colour on the bottom, then turn the chicken over and brown the other side
Set it aside while you add the other 1 tbs olive oil, the butter and the garlic to the pan
Stir over medium heat for a minute or 2
Add the mushrooms, wine, herbs and lemon zest
Allow to bubble away for a minute
Now into the pan goes the chopped up chicken, bacon, stock, cream, parmesan and cornflour slurry/roux
Let it simmer for about 10 minutes till it thickens and melds
Throw in the peas or spinach leaves, and the parsley and basil
Season with salt and pepper if needed
Toss as much of the fettuccine as you fancy in with the sauce
Throw on some extra parmesan and herbs if you feel inclined
Notes:
Chelsea's recipe actually starts with reducing 2 cups of stock to 1/2 cup stock before you do anything else; mmm frankly I have better things to do with my time so I figured adding stock powder to half a cup of boiling water would do instead - but feel free:=)
Chelsea also suggests using 500g. of pasta! Mr P. told me that was too much, but I cooked it anyway. Oh boy, was it too much. If I had put it all in with the sauce, there would have been very little sauce and very little flavour. And it was just way too much, but once again, feel free
ingredients gathered |
bacon fried off |
chicken cooked till golden |
get Mr P. to chop up the chook |
stir in the chicken, bacon etc |
snip up the pasta if you like it shorter |
I'm not that keen on slurping up long strands of wet pasta, and having it drip all over my chin. So, I grab a pair of scissors and give it a snip or 3 in the colander. Yep, much better.
Mr P. tossing the pasta |
sprinkle with extra parmesan and herbs if desired |
This was a really flavoursome, filling pasta dish that fed me and hubby for a couple of nights. Chelsea's books are packed with homey, comforting dishes. But I reckon you can skip or adjust some of her steps. Spending 20 minutes to reduce down some stock for this dish is just not practical for the busy home cook. Sure if you have plenty of time, go ahead, but I reckon we all need to simplify where possible. Her recipes can easily be adjusted, so enjoy her books if you get hold of them. She has some great ideas, which will give you some inspiration even if you don't slavishly follow her methods.
Making stock and then reducing it is a French thing, and quite old. Some of the classic sauces from centuries ago required more than one reduction, meaning that the sauce was incredibly rich and thickened with the natural gelling agents (collagen) from the bones that went into the original pot. Most recent cookbook authors don't think it's possible to do the same thing in a modern home kitchen. A very long story. I suspect your choices are totally right: you wouldn't do better by boiling down your stock!
ReplyDeletebest... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
hi Mae
Deleteif only we all had a sous-chef in our kitchens to do the menial work:) I figured I would get a small amount more flavour in this dish with the reduction, but who has time? cheers S x
This was really delicious, as i can attest. I love pasta as Mrs Pickings tells you all, so i enjoyed it thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteWell, thanks Mr P.!
DeleteHe must have been very happy! Mr NQN is crazy for pasta. In fact it's probably a pasta like this that he really loves.
ReplyDeletehi lorraine
Deleteyes indeedy. hubby was very happy. Maybe it's a man thing:) cheers
I'm with you Sherry, the whole waiting for stock to reduce for this type of dish is a bit OTT. I think it makes better sense what you did. Looks really tasty!
ReplyDeletethanks Jem. it was fairly delicious. Especially loved by hubby. cheers S x
DeleteLooks yummy. I think I'll even cook it.
ReplyDeletethanks Klara. it is a tasty dinner. cheers S
Delete