{"id":1386,"date":"2010-08-22T12:09:36","date_gmt":"2010-08-22T18:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/?p=1386"},"modified":"2010-08-24T12:14:56","modified_gmt":"2010-08-24T18:14:56","slug":"chicken-spaghetti-for-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/?p=1386","title":{"rendered":"Chicken Spaghetti for 25"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/IMG_2054.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1402\" title=\"IMG_2054\" src=\"http:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/IMG_2054.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"346\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This recipe has been in my family for so long, I don&#8217;t remember which cookbook it came from, originally.\u00a0 It was one of those civic\/charity league cookbooks, I think&#8230;Junior League of Tyler, perhaps?\u00a0 My mom gave it to me MANY moons ago and we&#8217;ve served it for quite a few &#8220;Help!\u00a0 I need to feed a crowd!&#8221; occasions since, including Hubby&#8217;s graduation from the police academy and Girl&#8217;s christening, although I haven&#8217;t made it in a VERY long time.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve adapted it significantly enough from the original version that I feel that I can now call it my own.\u00a0 This is a real winner of a recipe, since it can be prepared ahead of time and only takes 20 minutes in the oven before serving.\u00a0 It is very rich and creamy&#8230;not a &#8220;healthy&#8221; recipe, by any stretch of the imagination, but it&#8217;s pretty universally appealing (all but the most finicky kids seem to like it and the mushrooms are big enough to pick out, if anyone objects to them) and hearty enough to not need a lot of side dishes.\u00a0 We&#8217;re having a small crowd over for dinner tomorrow night, so I think it&#8217;s time to dust this one off again&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chicken Spaghetti for 25 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>12 skinless, bone-in chicken breasts<\/p>\n<p>1 white onion, sliced<\/p>\n<p>4 celery ribs, cut into 2-inch pieces<\/p>\n<p>2 bay leaves<\/p>\n<p>2 whole peppercorns<\/p>\n<p>one bunch of Italian flat-leaf parsley<\/p>\n<p>1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves<\/p>\n<p>2 carrots,\u00a0 cut into 2-inch pieces (or about 8 baby carrots, cut in half)<\/p>\n<p>4\u00a0 1\/2 cups white wine, divided (you&#8217;ll need a little more than one bottle and can save the remainder of the second bottle to drink with the completed spaghetti &#8211; remember:\u00a0 don&#8217;t ever cook with a bottle that you wouldn&#8217;t drink)<\/p>\n<p>3\/4 cup butter<\/p>\n<p>3\/4 cup flour<\/p>\n<p>2 cups half and half<\/p>\n<p>4 1\/2 cups sour cream<\/p>\n<p>3 4-ounce jars of chopped pimientos<\/p>\n<p>3 8-ounce jars mushroom pieces (or 2 1-pound boxes of fresh, sliced mushrooms, sauteed until golden browned and softened)<\/p>\n<p>juice of 3 lemons<\/p>\n<p>2 T Worcestershire sauce<\/p>\n<p>dash cayenne pepper<\/p>\n<p>salt and white pepper to taste<\/p>\n<p>3 1\/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese<\/p>\n<p>1 1\/2 pounds spaghetti noodles<\/p>\n<p>1 package Pepperidge Farms pastry shells, baked according to package directions<\/p>\n<p>Place chicken, onion, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns, parsley stems (not the leaves), thyme and carrots in a large, covered stockpot.\u00a0 Add 3 cups of wine and enough water to cover and simmer until chicken is thoroughly cooked, but still tender.\u00a0 Strain and reserve chicken stock.\u00a0 Remove chicken meat from bones and dice it.<\/p>\n<p>Melt butter in a large saucepan and add flour; cook for 1 minute.\u00a0 Add half-and-half, sour cream and 3 cups of the reserved chicken stock; blend well.\u00a0 Add pimientos, mushrooms, lemon juice, Worcestershire, cayenne, salt, pepper, 3\/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese and the chicken.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/IMG_2049.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1404\" title=\"IMG_2049\" src=\"http:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/IMG_2049.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"174\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Unbaked casseroles, ready to go in the oven (or freezer.)<\/p>\n<p>Preheat oven to 350 degrees.<\/p>\n<p>Cook spaghetti in the remaining reserved chicken stock and remaining 1 and 1\/2 cups wine according to the package directions (maybe undercook it just a TINY bit, because it will absorb more liquid as it bakes later), adding more water, if necessary, and drain.\u00a0 Divide the spaghetti evenly among three 8-inch X 12-inch or 9-inch X 13-inch Pyrex-type (oven-safe) baking dishes.\u00a0 Cover each with equal amounts of the chicken sauce.\u00a0 Top with remaining Parmesan cheese.\u00a0 Crumble pastry shells on top of each dish.\u00a0 If desired, casserole can be frozen, at this point. (cover tightly with plastic wrap and then foil.\u00a0 Thaw in refrigerator for 24 hours before cooking.)<\/p>\n<p>Bake casseroles, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly.\u00a0 Remove from oven and top with finely chopped parsley leaves for garnish (I forgot to do this last night.)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/IMG_2052.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1405\" title=\"IMG_2052\" src=\"http:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/IMG_2052.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"322\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This recipe has been in my family for so long, I don&#8217;t remember which cookbook it came from, originally.\u00a0 It was one of those civic\/charity league cookbooks, I think&#8230;Junior League of Tyler, perhaps?\u00a0 My mom gave it to me MANY moons ago and we&#8217;ve served it for quite a few &#8220;Help!\u00a0 I need to feed &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/?p=1386\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Chicken Spaghetti for 25&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,18,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entrees","category-favorites","category-pasta","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1386"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1412,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386\/revisions\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.feedyourkids.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}