Creamy Chicken Spaghetti Casserole - Try this!

Well, this is a first for me. I made this last night and i'm blogging about it today. I deserve a pat on the back - or two :D

I made this wonderful casserole last night for dinner and I must say, I'm a fan. If I could paint my face and put on a big foam hand for this one, I would. But that would be silly and I think big foam hands are kind of tacky. Sorry for all you big foam hand lovers out there. It's time to take it off, and started cooking.

This recipe does take a LONG time. Even by PW standards she has 45 minutes for prep time and 30 minutes for cooking time. So, in real, normal people time you should at least plan to add an extra 20 minutes to it.

She calls for a whole fryer chicken cut up. They didn't have any of those at the store and there was no way i was going to buy a whole chicken and cut it up myself. That would've added another hour to the prep time... well, actually, the recipe just would not have been made. I can't cut up a whole chicken and do everything that comes with cutting whole chickens. That's disgusting. So, I resorted to my favorite chicken part - thighs. Again, i think dark meat gives it a better flavor than white meat anyway.

You need to boil the chicken in a pot of water. She says 20 to 30 minutes. I put the water and the chicken in the pot and when it came to a boil I let it sit in there for about 30 to 35 minutes. Mainly because I thought that would be a good time to sit on my butt and browse the internet for a bit. But you can be good and get to chopping those olives and mushrooms and measuring out the liquid ingredients.

When the chicken is done, remove it from the pot with tongs and set it aside. DO NOT touch the chicken at this point. Remember, it just came out of a pot of boiling water! I know YOU know that, but someone else might not. Then you boil the pasta in that same chicken water. I was a little apprehensive at first, but trusted PW. I don't think it added much additional flavor, but it was nice not having another pot and waiting for it to boil. Make sure you cook your pasta AL DENTE. It will cook extra in the oven later so make sure you don't turn it to mush when you are boiling it. I also used regular spaghetti and not thin spaghetti like the recipe calls for. Thin = mush. I don't like mush.

On to the sauce... When you melt the butter and add the flour, you need to whisk your little heart out and make sure the butter does not burn. Then you add in the chicken broth. I *think* she just uses the chicken/spaghetti water, but I did not do that. First of all, i think it's gross. Second of all, i think the chicken broth that I buy at the store is a heck of a lot tastier than what was in that pot.

Back to the whisking.... continue to whisk in that milk and then when everything is added cook it on low medium for a few minutes. At this point, do not go out and check your mail, go to the bathroom or do anything else that will distract your attention from your pot of sauce. You need to WATCH it so it doesn't bubble too much and burn or evaporate. Trust me. Go check your mail when the chicken is boiling instead.

I think this is the first recipe that Ree hasn't made me chop up parsley. Thank you, Ree. Thank you! But she did make me shred chicken. I would much rather chop parsley than shred chicken, but this was sooooo worth it so I kicked and screamed for about a minute but then dug in my forks and began to shred.

When your sauce is done, you dump all of the good stuff into it. The chicken, the mushrooms, olives and mix it all up. Then you add in the pasta and put it into a casserole dish to bake. Sprinkle it with more parmesan cheese and throw it in the oven at 350. I let it bake for about 30 to 35 minutes until the top was a nice golden brown and crispy.

Dig in and enjoy! This is really one of my favorite recipes and I'm sure i will make it again and again.