Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Waste Not, Want Not

I started this post a good 2+ weeks ago and somewhere after the first sentence or two, life took the reigns and ran away with me. Left me sort of white-knuckling-it, much like how you feel on a super-high-speed and way-too-dangerous roller coaster. I finally jumped from that ride, but merely landed on a runaway train, so I'm really not sure that anything changed; however, somewhere mid-leap I had time to revisit this recipe and throw a few thoughts down. *WHEW* I want to go on record as stating that I've also started a biscotti post that is well over a month old and I may actually finish it this week as well...but don't hold your breath.

When it comes to ingredients, I like to use every bit of every item. So when I recently made two roast chickens for my family, I went to bed haunted by the carelessness of throwing away the bones. Why didn't I save those to boil low and slow into consomme? Why? Oh yes, because at the time it was 100+ degrees outside and the thought of keeping one of my stove burners flaming away for 24 hours adding at least 10 degrees to my kitchen temperature...well, the mere thought of any extra heat trumped my need to be frugal. I did, however, save every last morsel of chicken and chopped it up the next day to make this yummy twist...much like a stroganoff, but with chicken instead of beef and with our leftover steamed broccoli stirred in at the last moment, yielding a huge pot of this scrumptiousness; much to my delight only a small amount remained after three of the males in my home devoured two heaping servings each.

3 cups diced cooked chicken
1 yellow onion chopped
1 stick unsalted butter
1 Tbs. kosher salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. corn starch
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cans chicken broth
1 tsp. horseradish
1 Tbs. dijon mustard
16 oz. box farfalle, cooked to package directions
2 cups diced cooked broccoli

Melt butter in a medium size saucepan, add onion, salt, pepper and garlic powder, cooking until onions are transparent. Add corn starch, whisking to avoid lumps. Add chicken broth, sour cream, horseradish and mustard, continuing to whisk until well combined. Keep warm over low heat while cooking pasta. Remember, you want the sauce to be a little thin and plentiful. Pasta is absorbent and much of the sauce will be soak right in, so if at any time the sauce begins to thicken (like gravy) add more chicken broth and thin it back out. After draining your farfalle, return pasta to your pot and stir in the diced chicken and the broccoli, then add sauce to the pasta and stir well to combine. Enjoy!