Here’s a recipe I’ve actually made before–it’s been a while since we’ve seen one of those. When I was about 8 or 9, my mom decided that she, my dad, and I were going to take turns making dinner each week. One of the recipes I actually planned for and made (before this grand plan inevitably fell apart) was this one: 12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken.
I probably was drawn to this one because my favorite meal as a kid was fettuccini Alfredo, and this one seems relatively similar (to an 9-year old). I also remember being fascinated with the fact that I got to use alcohol in something.
As you can see from the ingredients, it’s not that close to Alfredo-–it needs a creamier, cheesier base. This one’s got a tangier, drier taste to it than traditional Alfredo.
Ingredients. I subbed chicken thighs for chicken breast (personal preference) and white wine vinegar for sherry (didn’t have any). Note the ground pepper/salt in Pyrex containers–I prefer this for cooking with because it’s easier to measure/pinch when it’s like this, not to mention it tastes fresher.
Sliced-up chicken. Gory.
Chicken cooking in the large foreground pan while the fettuccini works its way down in the background. I usually break large noodles like that in half, but I felt like leaving it long for this recipe.
I was somewhat upset that after I started cooking this, I noticed that the recipe card calls for fettuccini, but uses a curlier type of pasta in its cover photograph. What’s more, they use the right pasta in the instruction photograph. Where I was going with that was that I felt like leaving the noodles long to protest the miscommunication/bad picture, which makes no sense, but it’s just pasta so who cares. Let’s move on.
4/13/19 Edit: While doing some clean-up and editing on old posts, I noticed that the cover photo for this recipe is the EXACT same photo used for 12-17: Curly Pasta with Chicken. Either there was a layout/printing error or they were lazy–but I just noticed it now. Mystery solved of why the photo pasta doesn’t match the description.
Chicken out and held in a bowl on the side while the onion cooks. Fettuccini continues to work its way down in the pot.
All together now–here’s why you use the big pan. It gets mighty full by the end.
Here’s another reason I used the big pan–I overshot a bit on my chicken and used more than the recipe called for. Since I already had extra chicken and onion, I upped the rest of it as well and stored the extra sauce away in the fridge. It only calls for a cup of half-and-half, but this is clearly a bit more. Just saying.
Sauce as it’s finishing, with nice pepper specks in there. Like I said, invest in a coffee/spice grinder and grind your own spices. It makes a big difference and it’s something professional kitchens do. I bought this one on sale from a big-box store for like $20, and it’s been worth it just in the short time I’ve had it.
Final shot. Even if the recipe tastes largely the same as it did 20 years ago, at least my plating has gotten slightly better. 🙂
Grade: A-
