Love That Carries Forward
Anyone who knows me knows that my love language is food. Not only do I love food, but I show my love for others through it. Feeding my family good food and seeing the pleasure and joy on their faces, as they savor a bite, has always given me a euphoric feeling. It was a no-brainer that this assignment was going to showcase one of my favorite recipes and how to make it. It was Valentine’s Day, which is a day that is more about familial love than romantic love for me. And I couldn’t think of anything better than showing my 13-year-old daughter, Olivia, how to make her absolute favorite dish, Chicken Spaghetti. She has always loved this cheesy and hearty meal that I have prepared for her since she was little. She requests it every year for her birthday and I am always happy to oblige. It has quite a few ingredients and is time-consuming, but it always comes out perfect and is so very appreciated every time it is made. We, as parents, hand down our celebrated traditions to our children. As I was teaching Olivia the steps and techniques to making this intricate dish, I could not help but smile at the thought of her, in the future, making this dish for her own young family and telling them, with a big smile and teary eyes, “my mom taught me to make this. Enjoy!”
The ingredients list for Chicken Spaghetti is not short and there are several steps. What I like about this recipe is that it doesn't call for cans of condensed soup. Instead, a roux is made. It is a bit healthier because I control the amount of sodium included, however, I would not classify this as the healthiest meal I make, by a long shot.
Some parents long to go back to the time when their children were babies. Not me. I love that Olivia is thirteen. She's smart, sassy, opinionated and fun. I feel like this is the time in her childhood I will reminisce on the most. However, we switched roles in this picture because knives are sharp and a trip to the ER would have put a damper on Valentine's Day. She is, after all, still only thirteen.
When I find a recipe, I immediately make adjustments to make it my own. The original recipe I found calls for browning whole chicken breasts in the skillet. However, I find that prep method to render tougher meat. So, I use the instant pot and pressure cook my chicken breasts for shredding. It's an additional step that is worth the effort. Olivia wanted the gloves to handle the raw chicken and I don't blame her. She looked at the chicken on the plate and said, "I have to touch that?"
The instant pot is a wonderful appliance. I think this is the third one I've owned. It is also a really good tool to teach kids how to cook healthy meals. Put your meat in the bottom, with a little broth and make sure you season it well. It comes out perfectly every time. Seriously, though, I cannot stress enough the importance of seasoning. My mother never put seasoning on anything. When I started cooking as a young wife, I had to get over my raising and blaze my own path, which I sprinkled heavily with salt, pepper and paprika.
You can do so many things with shredded chicken. Tacos, soups, casseroles, salads...the list goes on and on. In the summer, I smoke pork shoulders for pulled pork barbecue and nothing shreds the pork better than this pair of Bear Paws. I taught Olivia that shredding the meat not only evenly distributes the protein throughout the dish, but you can work out some serious aggression with these things. I think she felt a little like Wolverine from the X-Men franchise. I had to tell her to be careful more than once.
I tell my kids that I'm an old Southern woman and that means that I cook with real butter. Margarine is for amateurs and it does not cook up well at all. I try to offset my penchant for butter with a green salad at most meals. This one was no exception. Olivia learned that she had to stir constantly to make sure the butter melted evenly and the onions did not burn. There is nothing better than the smell of Vidalia onions sizzling in a sea of melted butter. Add the minced garlic and it's even better!
The roux is very important in this recipe. After the butter is melted and the onions are soft, the flour is added and stirred into the butter. Olivia asked me how long she needed to stir the flour and I told her that it needed to cook until she could no longer smell the flour, to which she asked, "flour has a smell?" I replied, "yes, my dear, most things you cook with have a smell, especially when added to heat." I then showed her how to add the chicken broth in splashes, followed by the milk to get this thick, saucy consistency.
The next step was to add a little Italian seasoning, then cream cheese, followed by handfuls of cheddar cheese and a can of partially drained Ro-tel tomatoes. She stirred and stirred, over low heat, until the cheese was melted through and the tomatoes were warm. She, then, added the shredded chicken and combined well, to make the sauce that we would spoon evenly over our noodles in the baking dish.
After the noodles were cooked in a separate pot, then drained thoroughly, she spread them on the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking dish. She then poured the star of this recipe, the sauce, over every square inch of noodle. She followed that step with a generous layer of shredded mozzarella cheese and freshly grated parmesan cheese for the finishing touch.
Olivia marveled at how heavy the baking dish was, as she carried it to the oven. I almost said that it was representative of the weight of my love for her. But, I thought that would come across as incredibly cheesy, which is ironic considering how incredibly cheesy this dish is. She popped it in a 400 degree oven, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Then it was time to sit down and rest her back. It is a very heavy dish to carry.
When the timer sounded, after 15 minutes, we flipped the broiler on high and browned the top layer of cheese, until golden and bubbly. What came out of the oven was a gorgeous meal almost too pretty to cut and serve. Almost.
Garnished with a sprinkle of fresh parsley, the finished product was a truly lovely meal that Olivia was extremely proud that she made. In true teenage fashion, she spent the rest of the night comparing her creation to my own from the past and I couldn't even be mad at her for it. She was so excited for our family to eat what she made, which is the feeling I wanted her to know. She felt the euphoria I could only previously describe to her. My hope for her is that she tries to replicate that feeling for the rest of her life.
Chicken Spaghetti
Ingredients:
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3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
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1 teaspoon each of salt, black pepper, garlic powder and smoked paprika
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2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth, divided
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4 tablespoons of salted butter
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1 small Vidalia onion, diced
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3 cloves of garlic, minced
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4 tablespoons of flour
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2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
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3/4 cup of whole milk
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4 ounces of cream cheese, softened
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1 cup of cheddar cheese, shredded
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10 ounces can of Ro-tel tomatoes
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8 ounces of thin spaghetti, cooked according to the package instructions
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1 cup of mozzarella cheese, shredded
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freshly grated parmesan cheese
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fresh parsley, finely chopped
For the shredded chicken:
Place three boneless, skinless chicken breasts in an Instant Pot insert with 1/2 cup of low-sodium chicken broth and a teaspoon each of salt, black pepper, garlic powder and smoked paprika. Set to pressure cook for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, perform a quick release of the pressure. Remove from the Instant Pot and shred the chicken.
Melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Then add the onion and saute for 3-4 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute. Add flour and cook until the flour smell disappears. Add 1 & 1/2 cups of chicken broth in splashes, mixing with the flour and cooking off the excess. Add the milk in splashes, while constantly stirring to avoid scalding. Reduce to low heat. Mix in the Italian seasoning. Add the cream cheese and melt into the sauce. Add the cheddar cheese and melt. Add the Ro-Tel tomatoes (drained to your liking) and mix together until tomatoes are warmed. Add the shredded chicken and mix well. Place the noodles in a greased 9x13 baking dish and pour the sauce evenly over the noodles. Top with a layer of mozzarella cheese and freshly grated parmesan. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes then brown the top under a high broiler for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve. Enjoy!