Chicken Tetrazzini Recipe

Go old-school Italian on your friends and prepare a rich chicken tetrazzini recipe for your next dinner party. Or, pair it up with candles and a nice bottle of white, and you've got a romantic dinner for two.

Ingredients (serves four or two to three of your bottomless-pit friends):

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons dried bread crumbs (Italian style if available)
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsely leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon thyme (fresh is better, but dried will do)
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (not the stuff in the spray can)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 6 onces fresh or dry linguine
• 1/2 cup steamed frozen or fresh peas (optional)
• 2 cups 2% or whole milk
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan (the real thing, not powder in a can)
• 1/4 cup romano
• 1/3 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/3 pound mushrooms, diced (optional but recommended)

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Dice, chop and prepare as necessary all the ingredients listed above. Be sure to set out milk and heavy cream (they should be room temperature before you cook with them).
3. Grease a medium-sized oven safe baking dish with butter.
4. Rub chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
5. Put a non-stick skillet on medium high-heat, and melt one tablespoon of butter into one tablespoon of oil.
6. Add the chicken and cook until golden on both sides and cooked through (three to five minutes per side).
7. Move chicken breasts to a plate to cool and shred the chicken into small bite-size pieces. Put in a large bowl.
8. Add another tablespoon of butter and olive oil to the skillet.
9. Sautee mushrooms in the skillet for about ten minutes.
10. Add onion, garlic and thyme and saute for about eight minutes, until the onion is translucent and pearly.
11. Pour in white wine. Simmer until it evaporates (two to three minutes).
12. Transfer the mushrooms, onions, garlic and spices to the bowl with the shredded chicken.
13. Add another tablespoon of butter in the pan over medium-low heat.
14. Continuously whisk in the flour gradually for two minutes.
15. Whisk in milk, cream, broth, nutmeg, salt and pepper on high heat for two minutes.
16. Cover and bring to a boil.
17. Uncover and leave simmering ten minutes or until the sauce thickens, whisking often.
18. Cook the linguine in a large pot of boiling water (salted) with a splash of olive oil until it's al dente.
19. Stir pasta, peas, and parsley into the chicken and mushroom mixture until the pasta is coated and mixed with the other ingredients.
20. Mix cheese and bread crumbs in a bowl.
21. Move pasta to the prepared baking dish.
22. Sprinkle cheese mixture over the pasta.
23. Dot one tablespoon of butter across the top of the cheese and breadcrumb mixture.
24. Bake 25 minutes uncovered or until sauce is bubbly and pasta is golden brown on top.

Once you've mastered this classic Chicken Tetrazzini Recipe, get creative with different vegetables and proteins, or different spices (little cayenne pepper never hurt anyone, right?) and before you know it ,you'll have a bevy of pasta dishes in your reportoire, no can-opener required.