chicken tetrazzini

Earlier this week I had some time to prepare supper. Digging through one of my many files of recipes, I came across a recipe for chicken tetrazzini. It's another one of my recipes where I can't recall where I found it. I tried "Googling" it to see if I can find the recipe to link to, but alas, I'm not that fortunate tonight.

I did a bit of research and find that this recipe was invented in the early 1900's by Ernest Arbogast the chef at a hotel in San Francisco called the Palace Hotel, where opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini was a resident. There is a bit of discussion as to where the dish actually had its  beginnings. In any event, it's a wonderful casserole dish requires a bit of prep, but can be prepared ahead of time.

---

The ingredients are easy to find such as carrots, onions, mushrooms, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, spaghetti, milk, fresh parsley, breadcrumbs, chicken stock, sherry and Parmesan cheese. I think it took me about 45 minutes to prepare the dish this evening. I was a little behind in getting my pasta water going, but in about an hour I had dinner on the table tonight. 

The sauce that you make for this dish is light, not a heavy cream sauce. The addition of the vegetables, chicken stock and sherry give it a nice flavor. It's a great do-ahead meal that someone can just put in the oven if you're running late. If preparing ahead, I would recommend that you  make sure that you bring the casserole to room temperature for about 30 minutes before heating and keep it covered so it heats up thoroughly.