Chicken Spaghetti

This particular blog is for my homegirl Sara Gray. Or Gravy as she's known in my family. Let's get some inside jokes out of the way. Risky sisters. Coleman/Steven. Russell Youngblood. New Year's Resolution to meet the Hanson Brothers. Mary-Katherine Gallagher, Spartans, and most other SNL renditions we made our own. Spice Girls. I am a human being! ...Those are the first that come to mind. Anywho, hope this takes care of your Chicken Spaghetti craving as of late!

Okay people. Let's talk Chicken Spaghetti.

I have a feeling  that a good Chicken Spaghetti is whatever your Mom made. If you've "grown up" and matured enough to rise above casseroles & what Mom used to make, Congratulations. You're kind of an Asshole.

My Mom never made Chicken Spaghetti though. (No hard feelings Mo) So, this is unexplored territoy for Prospector Kelsey. Go easy on me with this one.

Being a novice to chicken spaghetti, I had to do some investigation. Names of some of the recipes I found were: Baked Chicken Spaghetti, Best Chicken Spaghetti, Chicken Spaghetti, Chicken Spaghetti II - all the way to Chicken Spaghetti XIV, Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti Bake, Chicken Casserole, Slow Cooker Spaghetti Chicken... and the list goes on and on.

The lasting tie between all of the recipes, as far as ingredients go, were: Chicken (duh), Spaghetti (duh), Cheese, Cream of Whatever, Green Pepper, & Onion.

The chicken to spaghetti to cheese ratio was fairly consistent as well. 4c chicken breasts:1lb of cooked spaghetti:1lb of cheese.

A few ingredients were also left out here and there, depending on the recipe. This included garlic, green/black olives, Rotel, pimentoes, and herbs like parsley or bay leaf.

And then there came the "this or that" category. This included: Velveeta vs. Cheddar. To bake or not to bake. Choice of shredding or cubing the chicken. The competition between cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, cream of celery, or a combo of one or the other.

As you can imagine, things started to get a little hairy. So as I was caught in the middle of this mess, soon to tailspin out of control... I got it together and began a plan of attack.

I began to think of the ingredients. Rotel, Velveeta, Onion, & Green pepper. Remind you of anything? Microwave Queso dip! Derrr.  So now, I was faced with how to incorporate the rest of the ingredients & take it to the stove top. Problem solved. I decided to treat the concoction like a stove-top cheese sauce (I'm a genius - I know), mix in cooked spaghetti, and then bake/broil some cheese on top.

So Here's How Goes it.

Add 1Tbl butter (or Extra Virgin Olive Oil if you're going for healthy. But who are we kidding? It's chicken spaghetti fool!)
Over medium heat


Melt til it becomes this




Add

2 chopped onions

1 chopped stalk of celery

1/2 chopped green bell pepper

Cook for 12 min. Giving a stir every now and again.

Cover cook 3 min. more.

Gather round these ingredients:



Thanks Z for the stackable, polka-dotted cups
Thanks Aunt Mar for my stackable, recycled-looking bowls



Add

3c shredded chicken (I use a rotisserie)

Season w 1/2teas seasoning salt & 1/2teas paprika & 1/4 teas black pepper

1/2teas Paprika

1/2teas Seasoning salt

I forgot to photo me adding the black pepper. I promise it's in there though.

Add
1 undrained can of mild rotel
2 undilluted cans of cream of mushroom (or one large one like I did)

1c water

Turn heat to low

Add 1lb cubed Velveeta

Say Cheese

Take a whisk to it

Stir away the lumps

Yayyysh

Turn off heat

Cooking Spaghetti 101:

Bring a covered pot to a boil

When steam is shooting out of the lid, the pot is readay for the spaghett-ay

Add a hefty pinch of salt

Drop in spaghetti. Give a stir to get it going. Cover with a spatula or spoon to prevent over-flowage.

Set a timer & boil for 9min. - 10min.

Drain.

(Italians cover your ears & close your eyes) Rinse until cool.

Add back to the large pot. Then pour the sauce on top of the spaghetti to coat. 

Do not add the spaghetti to the pot you cooked your sauce in (like I did). Or else there will be no room to combine everything. Then, it will all start to slosh out everywhere. And then you'll get really mad. And then you'll feel like a big idiot for not thinking that all the way through.

Bottom line. Mix in a bowl or pot big enough to fit the spaghetti & sauce comfortably.

Butter a baking dish. I use the butter wrapper I took a tablespoon of butter from.

I didn't use 4Tbl. This was leftover butter from ealier recipes.

Squish in.

Coat evenly

Or another option is to use Pam.

Not that Pam

This Pam

Add all of the combined ingredients into your prepped dish(es)

This is when I realized I'd forgotten to add the chicken. Whoops.



I'm such an idiot.



I just added on top & mixed through.

Okay. Continuing like I forgot nothing.

I prepared in 2 batches. One for now, one for later.

When ready to bake, cover the top with shredded cheddar (about a cup)

Guess which I'm saving for later.

Bake @ 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the cheese melts & broil if you like it extra cuh-dis-ppppeee. (crispy)

This should take a total of about 25min.

Spaghetti of the Chicken The world could do w/o another name for:

CHICKEN SPAGHETTI

For all of you fellow nerds out there that like to delve a little deeper, let's discuss the topic of Chicken Spaghetti a little further.

We'll go about this with a little Q & A.

Why did I choose cream of mushroom?

Cream of Chicken was a given to be first out the door. Canned and shelved chicken parts? No thanks.

Cream of Celery ...Creamy celery. Sounds gross. Ewww. Okay, not buying it. (I still wanted the flavor though, hence the addition of the stalk of celery.)

Cream of Mushroom I guess I can see the merit. This was the least sounding-dumb of the 3.

Why did I choose to shred 3 cups of chicken's worth?

I chose 3 cups because 4 cups seemed a little much.

Shredding the chicken took rank over cubing because the shreds become twirlable along w/the spaghetti. Plus, cubed chicken is too reminiscent of chicken salad.

Why Rotel?

I wanted some tomato in the recipe. Rotel combined w/the paprika served as triple duty. Each contributed tomatoes, replaced the pimentos, and acted as a supporting to the "Holy Trinity(Bell pepper, celery, and onion.)

Why was the addition of tomatoes so important?

I did NOT want this recipe to be confused with chicken tetrazzini. Chicken Tetrazzini, to me, is the snobby/hoity-toity cousin of Chicken Spaghetti. Tetrazzini is more about mushrooms, petite peas, fancier cheeses, and finicky techniques. Pfft. Tomatoes give Chicken Spaghetti a middle finger to express how it feels about all of that nonsense.

Don't believe me? Reference Giada De Laurentiis's recipe for Chicken Tertrazzini.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chicken-tetrazzini-recipe/index.html

She's out of her mind if she thinks I'm gonna buy her Santa-Sized list of ingriedents. And to all the hundreds of people who made & loved her recipe. SNAP OUT OF IT!

Why the Velveeta?

I used velveeta because it's extra creamy & easily melts. I didn't want to go through the hassle of making a bechamel & also worrying about if my cheddar would separate by boiling too aggresively. I think you've sort of lost the point of Chicken Spaghetti if you go through all those pains.