Chicken Tetrazzini

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
Cooking spray
1 cup finely chopped onion
2/3 cup finely chopped celery
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3⁄4 teaspoon salt
3 (8-oz) packages presliced mushrooms
1⁄2 cup dry sherry
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 (14.5-oz) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 1⁄4 cups (9-oz) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1⁄2 cup (4-oz) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
7 cups hot cooked vermicelli (about 1 pound uncooked pasta)
4 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (about 1 1⁄2 pounds)
1 (1-oz) slice white bread

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt butter in large stockpot coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, pepper, salt, and mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add sherry; cook 1 minute.

Lightly spoon flour into a measuring cup; level with a knife. Gradually add flour to pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly (mixture will be thick) with a whisk. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.

Add 1 3⁄4 cups parmesan cheese and cream cheese, stirring with a whisk until cream cheese melts. Add the pasta and chicken, and stir until blended. Divide the pasta mixture between 2 (8-inch-square) baking dishes coated with cooking spray.

Place bread in food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs form. Combine breadcrumbs and 1⁄2 cup parmesan cheese; sprinkle evenly over pasta mixture.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove casserole from oven; let stand 15 minutes.

To freeze unbaked casserole: Prepare through Step 5. Cool completely in refrigerator. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing to remove as much air as possible. Wrap with heavy-duty foil. Store in freezer for up to 2 months.

To prepare frozen unbaked casserole: Thaw casserole completely in refrigerator (about 24 hours). Preheat oven to 350. Remove foil; reserve foil. Remove plastic wrap and discard. Cover casserole with reserved foil; bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 1 hour or until golden and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes.

Yield: 2 casseroles, 6 servings each (serving size: about 1 1/3 cups)
Calories 380 (29% from fat); Fat 12.2g (satfat 6.6g, monofat 34g, polyfat 0.7g); Protein 33g; Carb 32.7g; Fiber 2g; Chol 66mg; iron 2.8mg; Sodium 964mg; Calc 319mg

This makes A LOT. I halved the recipe and the 3 of us (Jas, Jared – age 3 1⁄2, and I) hardly made a dent. It’s enough work though that I like the idea of freezing half. I made this with leftover black forest ham and used wide egg noodles instead of vermicelli and it turned out great. It’s really yummy and pretty kid friendly. (Jared loves ham though). It would definitely help next time to have the ingredients open / prepared and ready before you start cooking. I also only used 1 (8-oz) package of presliced mushrooms vs.1 1⁄2 packages and it was PLENTY. I think I’d use even less next time. Besides using ham in place of chicken, you can also use leftover turkey.