We have another standard in a weeknight meal catalog. This recipe for Chicken Tetrazzini makes an insane amount and kept us fed for over three nights. By the way, this dish is named after an opera star, Luisa Tetrazzini, as all good cream-sauce dishes are.
Oh, and it is also lower in fat and calories, believe it or not. It does NOT taste like it. We liked it a lot and will make it again. It comes from book called Light and Lucious which was provided as a political promotion from some Commissioner in District 3, but published by Oxmoor House. This book I have rarely used, but it included two preparations of each dish; one indulgent and one sensible. This one is actually called Chicken Linguine, but it is as close to Tetrazzini as I want to be. The original dish is supposed to have some non-red meat shredded, almonds and a cream sauce, created for Luisa Tetrazzini, who was in a famous feud with Nellie Melba, after whom Peaches Melba was named. Food... opera.... its all in there.
I made this in advance of cooking it, so I poured the mushroom liquid on top before refrigerating it, and also left off the breadcrumbs till baking. It was deliciously moist with all the liquid included and not soggy at all. However it sat overnight. If you are baking it right away, use your liquid judgment.
Chicken Tetrazzini
1 lb sliced mushrooms
1/2 c dry sherry (or white wine)
2 T butter, melted and divided
1 lb chicken breasts, skinned and boned
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 c chopped celery (my idea)
1/4 c plus 2 T flour
3 c canned chicken broth, low sodium please
8 oz carton sour cream (I used Daisy light, not fat-free)
16 oz. linguine, uncooked (till later)
1/2 c shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (they ask for reduced fat, but I don't believe in that)
1/4 c plus 2 T parmesan cheese grated
1/8 t freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c fine, dry bread crumbs (I made fresh crumbs, and used more like 1 cup)
Saute mushrooms in sherry and 1 t butter in a nonstick skillet for 5 minutes over high heat.
Place chicken in a saucepan and cover with water; boil, cover, reduce and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain and shred when cool.
Coat a saucepan with cooking spray over medium heat and cook the onions and celery until tender. Combine 1/4 c flour with 1/2 c broth; add this and the remaining broth (2 1/2 c) to the pan. Cook until thickened. Meanwhile, cook the linguine in a large pan of salted water; drain. Remove the brothy stuff from the heat when thick and stir in sour cream. Add in the pasta, mushrooms, chicken, Monterrey Jack cheese, 1/4 c parmesan, and black pepper. Toss well and throw into a 9x13 inch baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
Combine breadcrumbs and parmesan and butter; sprinkle over chicken and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Becco in NYC
Our Saturday adventure in NYC earlier this month was the Italian restaurant Becco, located in the theater district. We went to this restaurant years ago right after it first opened. That was Fleet Week in May of 200?. The weather was gorgeous and we didn't have a reservation, so we ate at a table on the porch and loved it. It was my first fava bean experience, as well as a cocktail plus wine, which I will never repeat (too loopy). The fava beans, however, made a definite impression and I try to convince Sean to eat them with me often. It doesn't work very often.
This time it was pretty chilly, drizzly rain and 40 degrees. Not quite outdoor dining. Indoors was cozy, not too hot and simply decorated. We went at 1:30, hoping to finish in time to grab some half-priced Broadway tickets immediately after lunch.
Becco maintains a prix fixe lunch and dinner of unlimited servings of three different pastas plus salad. Lunch is around $16 and dinner around $20. We think that is an amazing find in New York City. They also have a huge wine list for under $20. Another amazing find.
We went for lunch and ordered off the menu rather than the prix fixe.
There is also some need deep down in my psyche for each person to order a unique selection. That way KK can taste more than one thing. This time Sean was a bit under the weather and chose something simple: paillard of grilled chicken with arugula and roasted tomatoes. I became sad because it was also what I wanted. I kept trying to cajole him into another selection, and also closely scrutinized the other offerings similar to this but I couldn't change my mind. I ordered the same thing. I have been disappointed with my selections in the past when I try to choose my second string.
This chicken was delicious, with a huge mound of slightly wilted arugula on top. Chicken and a salad! I have high salad needs and this met it. The oven roasted roma tomatoes were almost like candy. Sean is not an oven roasted fan, and even he would have fought me for one. We saved enough room for dessert here, and took the waiter's suggestion of the panna cotta, plus an apple strudel. The apple strudel was marginal, but the panna cotta was delicious. Plenty of vanilla bean seeds and super creamy. I've never had one but have seen it on menus often enough. We were very pleased with the caloric expense. It came with "dried seasonal fruit" and I was wondering what that might be. Pears? Oranges or apricots? Nope. Raisins. The best part about raisins is that they are large enough to be picked out. That panna cotta needed nothing but a spoon.
So we can safely recommend Becco. It will help offset your extremely overpriced hotel.
This time it was pretty chilly, drizzly rain and 40 degrees. Not quite outdoor dining. Indoors was cozy, not too hot and simply decorated. We went at 1:30, hoping to finish in time to grab some half-priced Broadway tickets immediately after lunch.
Becco maintains a prix fixe lunch and dinner of unlimited servings of three different pastas plus salad. Lunch is around $16 and dinner around $20. We think that is an amazing find in New York City. They also have a huge wine list for under $20. Another amazing find.
We went for lunch and ordered off the menu rather than the prix fixe.
There is also some need deep down in my psyche for each person to order a unique selection. That way KK can taste more than one thing. This time Sean was a bit under the weather and chose something simple: paillard of grilled chicken with arugula and roasted tomatoes. I became sad because it was also what I wanted. I kept trying to cajole him into another selection, and also closely scrutinized the other offerings similar to this but I couldn't change my mind. I ordered the same thing. I have been disappointed with my selections in the past when I try to choose my second string.
This chicken was delicious, with a huge mound of slightly wilted arugula on top. Chicken and a salad! I have high salad needs and this met it. The oven roasted roma tomatoes were almost like candy. Sean is not an oven roasted fan, and even he would have fought me for one. We saved enough room for dessert here, and took the waiter's suggestion of the panna cotta, plus an apple strudel. The apple strudel was marginal, but the panna cotta was delicious. Plenty of vanilla bean seeds and super creamy. I've never had one but have seen it on menus often enough. We were very pleased with the caloric expense. It came with "dried seasonal fruit" and I was wondering what that might be. Pears? Oranges or apricots? Nope. Raisins. The best part about raisins is that they are large enough to be picked out. That panna cotta needed nothing but a spoon.
So we can safely recommend Becco. It will help offset your extremely overpriced hotel.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
New York Ethnic Binge
I've never done a picture-less blog post before, so I apologize for the deficiency. Sean and I went to New York City earlier this month to eat our way through town. We returned to two restaurants from earlier trips because of their yum factor: Becco, by Lidia Bastianich and her son Joe, and Amma, an Indian restaurant in east Midtown.
Friday night was entirely dedicated to Amma; it was our entertainment. We had a lovely corner table front with windows overlooking the street. The interior is mood-lit with peach and neutral colors, which we think complements the food perfectly; neither too spicy or heavy.
After cruising the wine menu, we chose an Indian wine just to be crazy. Grover Vineyards Viognier 2003 from Banagalore was absolutely perfect with the food. (Their write up: crisp, full rounded peach, apricot, passion fruit notes with hints of honey- pretty accurate.) You can see their wine menu, shockingly not crazy overpriced, here. We just like drinking interesting local wines when we can, and this is probably as close to India as we will be in the near future.
Their dinner menu has so many intriguing vegetarian options even in the appetizer section that we just kept choosing small plates and made our own Indian tapas meal. Most of their selections come with two dipping sauces; a mint chutney and a tamarind sauce. Both of these are so delicious with everything.
Starting with appetizers: Goan shrimp was the only disappointment of the evening. Four shrimps on a very thick tangy tomato sauce could have been from anywhere. Not particularly Indian. Trio of samosas were thick pastry wrapped around three fillings; one was pea, one potato and one chicken. All were great with the sauce, but not Sean's favorites. They also brought a little amuse bouche of a potato dumpling for each of us. The trio of stuffed vegetables was excellent, yet mysterious; I could not figure out the stuffing to save my life, mostly from the low lighting. I'm fairly sure it was a vegetable stuffing.
We had the mint, lemon and tomato rices, which were refreshing, if rice can be that. And the naan was outstanding dipped in the yogurt sauce with slices of fried okra on top.
Main courses were shared by both of us, and I think they were both the same things we ordered the first time we came to Amma. My pick was Laukee Ke Kofte, or zucchini dumplings in a tomato sauce. Sean's selection (the clear winner that night) was Dum Aloo, braised potatoes in onion-tomato sauce. I don't know any other specifics for the Dum Aloo other than the menu write up, but it was fantastic. I'd have licked the plate had I not been in public.
I just still can't believe after all that food that the waiter asked us if we had room for dessert. Much to my regret, I couldn't find any room for dessert anywhere. Either on the table or inside me. That was my second regret of the evening.
So, my final advice is to try Amma when you are in NYC. And the viognier goes well with practically everything. Had we not eaten so much of it, we would have repeated our summation of Amma as "the daintiest Indian food you can eat." After this round, I was feeling far from dainty... but very satisfied.
Friday night was entirely dedicated to Amma; it was our entertainment. We had a lovely corner table front with windows overlooking the street. The interior is mood-lit with peach and neutral colors, which we think complements the food perfectly; neither too spicy or heavy.
After cruising the wine menu, we chose an Indian wine just to be crazy. Grover Vineyards Viognier 2003 from Banagalore was absolutely perfect with the food. (Their write up: crisp, full rounded peach, apricot, passion fruit notes with hints of honey- pretty accurate.) You can see their wine menu, shockingly not crazy overpriced, here. We just like drinking interesting local wines when we can, and this is probably as close to India as we will be in the near future.
Their dinner menu has so many intriguing vegetarian options even in the appetizer section that we just kept choosing small plates and made our own Indian tapas meal. Most of their selections come with two dipping sauces; a mint chutney and a tamarind sauce. Both of these are so delicious with everything.
Starting with appetizers: Goan shrimp was the only disappointment of the evening. Four shrimps on a very thick tangy tomato sauce could have been from anywhere. Not particularly Indian. Trio of samosas were thick pastry wrapped around three fillings; one was pea, one potato and one chicken. All were great with the sauce, but not Sean's favorites. They also brought a little amuse bouche of a potato dumpling for each of us. The trio of stuffed vegetables was excellent, yet mysterious; I could not figure out the stuffing to save my life, mostly from the low lighting. I'm fairly sure it was a vegetable stuffing.
We had the mint, lemon and tomato rices, which were refreshing, if rice can be that. And the naan was outstanding dipped in the yogurt sauce with slices of fried okra on top.
Main courses were shared by both of us, and I think they were both the same things we ordered the first time we came to Amma. My pick was Laukee Ke Kofte, or zucchini dumplings in a tomato sauce. Sean's selection (the clear winner that night) was Dum Aloo, braised potatoes in onion-tomato sauce. I don't know any other specifics for the Dum Aloo other than the menu write up, but it was fantastic. I'd have licked the plate had I not been in public.
I just still can't believe after all that food that the waiter asked us if we had room for dessert. Much to my regret, I couldn't find any room for dessert anywhere. Either on the table or inside me. That was my second regret of the evening.
So, my final advice is to try Amma when you are in NYC. And the viognier goes well with practically everything. Had we not eaten so much of it, we would have repeated our summation of Amma as "the daintiest Indian food you can eat." After this round, I was feeling far from dainty... but very satisfied.
