Chicken Spaghetti

The best part of chicken spaghetti is...leftovers!!!! I loosely took this recipe from my River Roads Cookbook. I was making this while Kaitlin was making Parmesan Twists and I had to make something worthy of her twists.

River Roads was initially printed in 1959, so many of the recipes call for "bacon grease" or "lard". The quantities, well, the norm is 12 to 14 people. There's even a section in there which has now become tradition in later editions, "How Men Cook". The biggest kicker is how each recipe is credited and recipes are stilled credited the same way in this century, I guess it's Southern tradition. The recipes by women are not credited Jane Doe, but Mrs. John Doe or Mrs. Joe Public. I've heard rumblings that the Junior League of Baton Rouge may change this tradition and include the woman's name and not the husband's name but it will be a hard fought battle.

Chicken Spaghetti -

1 lb. of No. 4 spaghetti, cooked and drained.

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 onion chopped

1/2 green bell pepper chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

3 scallions chopped

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley chopped

1 14 ounce can tomato sauce

1 can Rotel Tomatoes

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1-1/2 cups grated Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

Boil the chicken in seasoned water (salt, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, cayenne) for about 10 minutes. Remove chicken from water to cool and save broth. Shred chicken using 2 forks pulling in opposite directions. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Once the oil is heated, add the onions and bell peppers. Let the veggies saute for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the garlic, scallions and parsley and saute for another 3 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, Rotel tomatoes and one cup of chicken broth. Stir to combine and reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Add chicken and simmer for 30 minutes.

While sauce is simmering, cook spaghetti and grease a 9x13 casserole dish with one tablespoon of butter.

Place the cooked and drained spaghetti in the casserole dish, sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the spaghetti. Pour the chicken and sauce over the spaghetti and top with Parmigiana-Reggiano and bake for 30 minutes. Then place dish under the broiler for 2 minutes so the top will get crunchy.

Mama Mia this smells so good while it's baking, people will start hovering in the kitchen wanting to know how much longer until dinner and then they will moan and whine that they can't wait 20 more minutes.