Our Favorite Recipe for Blacked Chicken with Sun Dried Tomatoes with Romano Cheese, Cream, and Butter Sauce Tossed Into Fettuccine Noodles
A couple of nights ago, we tried another recipe adapted from the famous Marcella Hazan Italian cookbook. It involved a cream and butter sauce, and was one of the original versions of Fettuccine Alfredo recipes brought to the United States.
In our case, we were experimenting with different flavors and combinations so we changed it by substituting a nice Romano cheese, to which we added sun dried tomatoes and blackened chicken strips.
Not only was this Fettuccine Alfredo inspired dish one of the easiest, fastest dinners we’ve ever tested, it tasted delicious. Even better: If your family had to worry about staying on a budget, it’s inexpensive – an entire prepared dinner cost less than $15 for something that would take $50+ if you were eating out at a restaurant.
This one is definitely worth trying if you are interested in cooking at home.
The finished Blacked Chicken with Sun Dried Tomatoes with Romano Cheese, Cream, and Butter Sauce Tossed Into Fettuccine Noodles
Start by cooking fettuccine pasta in boiling, salted water. Store bought noodles of a good quality will typically take 11 to 12 minutes from the time they are dumped in the water, which should be at a full boil. The cream sauce is so quick to make, by the time the noodles are done, you will be ready for them.
As your noodles cook, you need to shred some cheese. You will need 2/3rds cup for your recipe and then additional to sprinkle over the finished dish. For the pasta, we decided on a Romano cheese base to be melted and blended into the cream and butter. It has a rich flavor profile so you should test to see if you like the cheese before using it. You could always go with a classic Alfredo by using a Parmigiano Reggiano. In fact, if you went with the Parmigiano Reggiano, you would end up with Hazan’s classic fettuccine alfredo dish.
We used the food processor to shred the cheese in a few seconds, then moved it aside to a measuring cup for later. We went ahead and shredded much more than we needed so we could remake the cream sauce quickly in the future.
To create the cream base, over medium low heat, pour 2/3rds cup of heavy cream into a dutch oven.
Add 2 tablespoons of butter, melting it completely with the cream, using a whisk to stir. It will only take 1 minute or so.
Take your finished fettuccine noodles, which should be drained and reasonably dry, and dump them on top of the cream and butter base. Using tongues, or wooden spoons, toss the pasta in the sauce until all noodles are thoroughly coated. The stove should still be on medium low heat during this process.
Once your dutch oven is filled with fettuccine noodles that have been completely coated in the Alfredo like sauce …
Pour an additional 1/3rd cup of heavy cream on top of the dish.
Immediately add 2/3rds cup Romano cheese, with the Dutch oven still on medium low or low heat. Continue to stir until the cheese is fully melted and integrated into the pasta. Once that is done, add a dash (less than 1/8th of a teaspoon) of nutmeg. Then salt and pepper to taste, mixing completely.
To add texture, flavor, and something extra to the pasta, we added sun dried tomatoes, prepared in a food processor, and large chunks of blacked chicken strips, which we then tossed with the pasta.
Sun Dried Tomatoes for an adaptation of fettuccine Alfredo pasta …
The final Cream and Butter Sauce with Romano Cheese Chicken and Sun Dried Tomato pasta. It was delicious. We sprinkled some additional shavings of Romano cheese on top before serving. Each lunch-portion serving had approximately 1,000 calories, which should be fine for dinner for a normal person is of healthy weight and has the daily recommended guideline of 2,000 calories per day.
It’s quick. It’s easy. It’s delicious. This is a great recipe to have memorized so you can throw something together in under 15 minutes if you are using store bought pasta, or 30 minutes if you want to make the pasta by hand. As mentioned in the photo captions, if you substitute cheeses, you have a classic Alfredo sauce. You can play around with it and add ingredients to develop your own family’s special version based on what you like.
