Recipe of the Week

Each week I plan to feature a recipe that we all really like. This recipe has kind of an Alfredo sauce taste to it. So, if you like that kind of thing you will probably like this recipe. The recipe is:

Chicken Linguine Casserole

16 oz. flat linguine, cooked
4-5 large COOKED boneless chicken breast halves (or about two whole breasts)

The sauce:

1/2 c. butter
9 T. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
4 1/2 c. chicken broth
1 1/2 c. half and half (I use 1% milk)
1 1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Melt butter; add flour, salt and pepper. Add chicken broth and milk. Stir constantly until thickened (mine doesn't get that thick but that may be because I don't use half & half--it does get thicker but not really thick and takes 5-7 minutes to do so). Stir in parmesan cheese and garlic. Stir until cheese is melted into sauce (make sure you use freshly grated cheese not the pre-grated cheese--it won't melt well at all).

You can also add to the sauce after the above instructions are completed (some of it I do, some I don't but the recipe does call for all of it):

2 c. fresh mushrooms, sliced
7 T. diced red or green bell peppers
2 T. green onions, chopped

Before baking you will also need to top the entire casserole with:

1/2 c. grated mozzarella cheese

This recipe makes a lot (and I'm not joshing!) and easily feeds my family of six for two nights. In fact, it makes so much I either have to use my giant 11x15 pyrex pan or divide up all the ingredients (half the pasta, half the chicken, half the sauce) to two smaller pyrex pans. If I do this I bake one that night and then save the other pan for another night.

One thing that I really like about this recipe (besides the fact it is yummy) is that it doesn't take a lot of chicken. With four or five boneless chicken breasts (the ones on the bigger side) I can feed my family for two nights. Now that is a great thing!

Also, the recipe can seem to be a bit daunting but if you have your chicken already cooked, all you are really doing is boiling pasta and making a sauce. I often have pieces of cooked chicken in my freezer ready to go. I just lay them on a jelly roll pan, sprinkle them with onion salt and some pepper and bake for about 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Then I just bag them individually and then place the whole bunch in a ziplock freezer bag. They look like this:



So, here is how I assmeble the casserole once I have all of the components:

1. Place your cooked pasta in a pyrex pan.

2. Slice your chicken like this:



3. Place your chicken on top of the pasta.

4. Pour sauce over the chicken and pasta (this picture has half the sauce on it and it shows that I used spaghetti but that is because I bought a smaller box of linguine than I should have--oh well! It works!):



5. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top. Cover.

6. Bake at 350 for 30-40 mintues.

7. Enjoy!



I keep thinking I need to add the broccoli to the casserole. I'm sure it would be really yummy that way.

Karen