Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken Tetrazzini is an Italian-American casserole that is inexpensive and easy to make at home. While relatively simple, there are some legitimate cooking techniques we can explore here. Plus, it’s inexpensive to make and can feed a squad of hungry folks. There are a ton of Tetrazzini recipes out there, but I haven’t found any that feature one of my favorite time-saving kitchen shortcuts: using a grocery store rotisserie chicken! You can pick up a fully-cooked chicken at Costco for $4.99, and that will give you about a pound and a half of chicken for your dish, which is perfect for what we need here. Plus, you can get away with only using 2 dishes if you’re creative and have them all washed before you eat.

Let’s get started!

Grocery store rotisserie chickens can be a bit bland, so our first step is going to be to add some seasoning to this. In a large nonstick pan, melt 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. While that’s warming up, remove the meat from the skin and bones and shred it with two forks. Add to the pan and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top. Stir that in, and warm the chicken, for about 5 minutes. This will get some fat and seasoning into the meat. When that’s done, put the chicken in a large mixing bowl and return the pan to the heat.

Next up is sauteing our vegetables. Mushrooms, another of my favorite ingredients, take about 10 minutes to cook. In the same pan, add another tablespoon each of butter and olive oil. When that’s melted, add the mushrooms (white mushrooms seem to be traditional, but I prefer the portabella mushrooms here) and season liberally with salt and pepper. While the mushrooms are cooking, get your onion, garlic, and sprigs of thyme ready. When the mushrooms are starting to turn brown, add the onion, garlic, and thyme to the pan and cook another five minutes, adding a bit more olive oil if the pan and vegetables look dry.

So, let’s talk about thyme. Are we really adding whole sprigs here? Yes! It’s another great time-saving trick. Don’t worry; we’ll remove the sprigs after we’ve extracted all the flavor from them.

This is also about the time to start thinking about getting our oven and pasta water going. While you’re working on the vegetables and sauce, preheat the oven to 425 degrees and get a large pot of salted water to a vigorous boil. When that’s ready, add the linguine with a splash of olive oil, and cook until almost done, about 9 minutes. Drain and set aside.

When that’s done, add a half cup of dry white wine to the pan and cook until evaporated. In addition to adding some acid and flavor to the dish, this will deglaze the pan, getting all the yummy bits off the bottom (see, I told you there was some technique here!). When the wine is evaporated, remove the thyme sprigs and add the mixture to the mixing bowl with the chicken. We’ll come back to that later.

Now for the sauce! Melt 3 tablespoons of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil (I know there’s a lot of fat here, but remember this is serving 8 people). When melted, add 4 tablespoons (or 1/4 cup, same thing) of flour. Stir with a silicon whisk if you have one (and you should) or the flat edge of a wooden spoon to create a roux, a French technique for adding flavor to and thickening sauces (ooh, technique!). When that’s done, whisk in 4 cups of whole milk, 1 cup each of low-sodium chicken stock and heavy cream, plus some salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. (Tip: if you don’t usually keep heavy cream on hand but use half and half in your coffee, you can use 3 cups of milk and 2 cups of half and half, because math is fun. Also, if you only have 2% milk on hand, 1 1/4 cups of heavy cream, 3 cups of 2% milk, and 3/4 cup of water. See? Algebra is useful!). Bring to a boil, then let simmer for about 5 minutes. The roux will thicken the sauce. Add the peas and chopped parsley, taste and adjust the seasoning, then add all the sauce to the mixing bowl.

At this point, we’re about ready to go. Add the pasta to the mixing bowl as well and mix thoroughly. For baking the casserole, I really like using disposable pans (again, you can get these very cheaply from Costco while you’re picking up that chicken!) since it’s a dish I don’t have to wash. If you use them, be sure and put a baking sheet underneath it for support; the last thing you want is for the pan to collapse under the weight of the food (and it is a bit heavy) and have to fight your dog for the remains. Whether you use the disposable pan or a traditional 9×13 casserole dish, spray the inside with a thin layer of canola oil spray (I swear I’m not advertising them, but again, Costco!) to help prevent sticking. Carefully pour the mixture into the casserole dish. Mix a quarter cup of Italian-style breadcrumbs with about a cup of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano (please, no green cans here) and sprinkle on top. This will give us our nice crust. Add the pan (and baking sheet if using) to the oven and cook until well-browned on top, about 25 minutes. I always recommend rotating most things in the oven about halfway through; the vast majority of ovens heat from the back, so the back is always slightly warmer than the front. This will help ensure even cooking.

When the top is nice and crunchy, take it out! Now, the sauce will be like lava at this point, so let it sit at least 5 minutes before. So my kids don’t burn themselves, I’ll put theirs in their bowls after 5 minutes and let them sit another 5 before serving them; there’s a ton of heat in there. Anyway, divide into bowls, top with fresh Parmigiano Reggiano and/or crushed red pepper flakes if you’re so inclined, and enjoy! If you’re going to eat the rest as leftovers during the week (we do!), you can keep the leftovers in the pan and add them to a 425-degree oven for about 30 minutes to reheat. If it’s still not quite as warm as you’d like at that point, there’s nothing wrong with putting a bowl of it in the microwave for a minute or two.