Hustling to get to the day’s Connections game in the NY Times last week, I got derailed by a recipe for Spaghetti Chicken. It called for sauteing a small onion, two celery stalks, four ounces of mushrooms, a pepper and two garlic cloves (I used a head of garlic) in 4T butter, then making a roux of ¼ cup flour, 1 cup milk and 1 cup stock or broth. To that add 1/4t onion and garlic powder, then add 1t salt and 1/2t black pepper. Add two 10- ounce cans of drained diced tomatoes with green chiles (I could not find, so I added a small can of green chiles).
While the sauteing is going on, cook 8 ounces of spaghetti al dente and drain. In a large bowl add pasta and vegetable mixture and mix with 1 cup shredded cheddar and 1 cup shredded parmesan. Add a pound of cooked chicken, shredded or chopped. (Whole roasted chickens can be found in the deli at both local grocery stores.)
Transfer to a 9-inch by 13-inch ” baking dish and top with another cup of cheddar. Bake uncovered until the cheese melts and it bubbles. The recipe calls for baking it for 40 minutes at 350, but that seemed like a lot because everything was already cooked. We went with 30 and left it cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Eat with hot sauce and a green salad. This dish could be made with any vegetable in the fridge and any protein as well. Here is the NYT link for those who subscribe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024744-chicken-spaghetti