Chicken Tetrazzini
Why I Love This Recipe
What is Chicken Tetrezzini? Well, it may sound Italian, but it isn’t. This dish was created in San Francisco by one of the chefs working at either the Palace or Hotel St Francis to honor the opera star Luisa Tetrazzini. This dish is sometimes credited to George Auguste Escoffier, but it doesn’t appear in any of his writings. It is a baked pasta dish based on what appears to be a Velouté small sauce, somewhere in between Poulette (Mushrooms, white wine, and parsley added to Velouté) and Supreme (Velouté with cream and lemon)
Ingredients You'll Need
1 lb. Spaghetti, uncooked
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
3 oz Dry Sherry
8 oz Butter; Divided
1 TB Olive Oil
6 TB AP Flour
3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2 tsp Tarragon
Freshly ground Black Pepper
Fresh Grated Nutmeg
1 Shallot; minced
4 cups Chicken breast- Boneless, Skinless, Cooked and Diced
12 oz. mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 cup Panko; Lightly Crushed
4 oz grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Bring Water to a boil in a large kettle and cook pasta according to package directions.
Meanwhile, in skillet, melt 2 TB butter and 1 Tb Olive oil over medium-low heat; sauté sliced mushrooms until golden.
In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining 6 TB butter and sweat the shallot,
Deglaze pan with sherry
Add 1/4 cup flour, nutmeg, pepper and salt; whisking until roux is light brown.
Add cold stock to warm roux and whisk until slightly thickened, add heavy cream and continue stirring until thickened.
Drain pasta
Add mushrooms and 1/2 of the sauce to the pasta and toss to coat.
Pour pasta into a buttered baking dish
Add chicken to the remaining sauce.
Make a well in the center of the pasta;
Pour the chicken/sauce into the well.
Toss Panko and Pecorino Romano together and sprinkle over the pasta.
Bake at 350 until sauce is bubbly and Panko/Cheese becomes golden… About 20 minutes.
