Rich Chicken Stock And Broccoli And Cheese Pasta Ala Kevin

Our Christmas menu included gravy for the turkey and I like to make it ahead of time - made it on 12/23.  My original plan was to roast turkey wings then I realized I had a chicken carcass from Cindy’s roasted chicken meal so I baked it at 350F for about 45 minutes then added it to a pot with an onion, a couple of carrots, celery ribs and garlic cloves covered it with water and simmered a few of hours.  I used the recipe from Simply Recipes as a guide. 

I then strained the stock and added a little water to make two quarts – one for the gravy and one for the freezer. As you can see, roasting the bones makes it look more like beef stock than chicken.

To make the gravy, I added four tbsp each of butter and flour to a saucepan and stirred them together to make a roux.  Then I stirred in four cups of the warmed chicken broth and brought it to a low boil, stirring frequently.  No need for Kitchen Bouquet to make it brown.

While we no longer have our regular Friday card get-togethers, good buddy, Joe still comes over and sometimes we play cards if we’re in the mood but, cards or not, I still like to cook something.  My original plan for this meal was to make stuffed shells but that required a trip to the store that neither of us wanted to make so I went about looking through my long list of blog recipes and quickly found one for which we had all of the ingredients on hand.  I discovered Kevin’s recipe for Broccoli And Cheese Pasta from his “Closet Cooking” blog and I know I can always count on his recipes.  I followed his recipe as written except I used a couple of his options and I added the broccoli before the cheese so it would cook more (don’t like mine crunchy).  I also added the sauce to the pasta rather vice versa.

Broccoli And Cheese Pasta

Ingredients:

1 pound pasta

3 tablespoons butter

½ cup onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp. Italian seasoning (added by Larry)

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

½ teaspoon ground mustard

1¾ cup diced chicken* (added by Larry)

2 cups chopped broccoli

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

*Leftover from the Cindy chicken meal 

Directions:

1. Start cooking the pasta as directed on the package.

2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.

3. Add the garlic, sprinkle in the flour and cook, mixing, for 1 minute.

4. Add the milk, bring to a simmer, and cook, mixing, until the sauce thickens, about 2-3 minutes.

5. Add the chicken and broccoli and cook until just tender.

6. Reduce the heat, add the cheeses and let them melt into the sauce before seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

7. Drain the cooked pasta in colander and return to the hot pan.

8. Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix. 

9. Plate and add more Parmesan to taste.

The Verdict:

We all thought it was very good and made for excellent comfort food but it could have used a little more liquid to make it more like a cheese sauce than mac n cheese.  The broccoli was cooked just right for me - firm but not crunchy or soft.

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/20/24 meal date