Newsletter # 11 – Chicken Tetrazzini

I’ve heard of that: Chicken Tetrazzini

In Australia we have our ‘pasta bake, a handy dish that you can generally throw together pretty quickly because often you will  have the necessary ingredients on hand and if you are missing one or two you can make do. It’s perfect if you have to ‘bring a plate’; it freezes well; and it’s tasty.

But who first thought of the delicious combination that is Chicken Tetrazzini. There are three possible claimants, all of which are plausible. One was a chef in San Francisco; one was a chef in New York and both the claims were around the early 1900’s. The third possible inventor was supposedly the French chef Auguste Escoffier, but it really doesn’t sound like the type of dish he would have been associated with.   However there is no dispute over the origin of the name; that belongs to the famous Italian opera singer – Luisa Tetrazzini.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Traditionally spaghetti was used (which is what I will use) but in Australia there has been a tendency to substitute penne or fusilli pasta.

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Course: Main Course

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• One barbecued Chicken flesh retained, skin and bone put aside 1350
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• 300 g Spaghetti
• 60 g butter
• 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 5 ml lemon juice
• 250 g button mushrooms washed, drained and sliced
• 80 ml 1/3 cup white wine
• 50 g 1/3 cup plain flour
• 500 ml 2 cups chicken liquid stock
• 250 ml 1 cup milk
• 300 ml cooking cream
• 120 g 1 1/2 cups 50/50 grated cheddar and grated parmesan
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh continental parsley plus extra to sprinkle
• Salt and pepper.
• 10 g extra butter for greasing the dish

Equipment

• For this recipe you’ll require three saucepans, a fine strainer and a lasagne style dish

Method

 

1. In a saucepan place the chicken bones, skin and any juices from the barbecued chicken bag. Cover with the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil and turn the heat down to low. Simmer this stock for 30 minutes.
   
2. Cut the chicken meat into a large dice.
3. In a separate saucepan cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water as per the instructions on the pack. Cook till underdone or “al dente”. When ready drain and rinse and put aside
4. Pre-heat your oven to 180c
5. In a separate saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Sweat the garlic.
   
6. Add mushrooms and lemon juice and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep cooking until the liquid produced has evaporated. Take off the heat and add the flour.
   
7. Stir the flour in and cook for a further 1-2 minutes. Adjust the heat to prevent scorching before taking the saucepan off the heat
8. Strain the stock and let it settle before removing any fat from the surface
9. Add 500 ml of this stock to the mushroom saucepan. Return to the heat and bring to the boil while stirring.
10. Add white wine. Combine well. Continue stirring
11. Add milk and cream. Bring back to simmer while stirring
    
12. Adjust seasoning
13. Stir in half the cheese mixture and half the chopped parsley
14. In your lasagne style dish cover the bottom with bottom with 2-3mm of sauce.
    
15. Add the chicken
    
16. Add the cooked pasta to the saucepan. Combine well.
    
17. Turn out this chicken mix out into the dish. Spatula out all of the mixture.
    
18. Sprinkle the rest of the parsley and cheese on top
    
19. Bake for 15 minutes until the top is golden brown.
20. When ready let it stand for five minutes before serving.

Notes

I used an unseasoned barbecue chicken from Costco. It was 1.35 kg, which is heavier than the chickens sold elsewhere. I kept a little of the breast meat for some sandwiches
You will end up with too much stock so freeze it for future use
This recipe is easily adaptable for both seafood and vegetarian