Creamy Chicken Rigatoni with Broccoli

The recipe this dish was based on was really named "Creamy Peanut Chicken Fettuccine with Broccoli," but it was absent peanuts because they don't live in our house any more with a peanut-allergic toddler. And I didn't have any Fettuccine, so I used the pasta I had on-hand: Rigatoni. All-in-all, it turned out pretty good – not great, but pretty good.

Mostly I was just excited because it allowed me to bond with a couple of my new 2010 cooking principles:

1. Substitution is OK, welcome even.
   
2. Using up food in the house is encouraged.
   
3. Adjusting a recipe to taste is wise, even if feels like it's violating the rules.
   

The original recipe is from Robin Miller's latest cookbook, Robin Rescues Dinner, which I borrowed from the library, then got for Christmas. (Thanks, Mom!) I soooo love the library for this "try-it-before-you-buy-it"process. I mean, I do definitely want to own cookbooks. They are such a joy to browse. Even though I use the Internet a lot to source recipes and especially like the reviews that come with that medium, I also like to curl up with a cookbook and some paper scraps to mark the recipes I'd like to try. But I've picked up some real duds over the years doing that site unseen thing.

Anyway… Robin Miller's books are some of my favorites. Not only is she the author of my go-to chili recipe (which I'm sure I'll be making soon enough and posting about), she's big on prep-ahead and banking a batch and morphing meals – where you move leftovers from one meal into the next. Thus the peanut-crusted chicken called for in this recipe is leftover from Peanut-Crusted Chicken with Apple-Gorgonzola Relish, which I didn't, in fact, make. Instead, I used the George Foreman to cook up a couple of quick breasts that I chopped from there. Figured the grilling might give it a better texture than my standard poached-and-cubed from the freezer. Anyway, it turned out OK.

What I really liked about this recipe is that even though it creates a cream sauce, it's not really a heavy-cream base. Not that I mind cream AT ALL, it's just that I seldom have it on hand. But flour and milk and parmesan cheese, I almost always have on hand, so that was nice.

It was also nice that I had red bell peppers on-hand that I could throw into Robin's recommended "Quick Side Dish: Sauteed Bell Peppers": Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 sliced bell peppers (preferably 1 red and 1 yellow) and ½ cup sliced red onion and cook for 5 minutes, or until soft. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. So easy.

And regarding #2 above, I was so proud to polish the remainder of the NYE crudités platter by using up the remaining the broccoli and the red peppers. Don't worry – they weren't rotten. I'm just publishing this extremely late.

And regarding #3 above, I reduced the ingredient for "pinch of ground nutmeg" to just "the residue in the lid" because I find nutmeg to overwhelm a dish otherwise.

Anyway, here's the full recipe. Quick, easy, satisfying. I suspect it would have been better with the peanuts from the other chicken recipe, but I'm afraid that's not going to happen here.

Creamy Chicken Rigatoni with Broccoli

• 12 ounces spinach or regular fettuccine (I used Rigatoni.)
  
• 2 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 2 cups milk
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 4 reserved cooked peanut-crusted chicken breast halves, cubed (or 4 cups cubed cooked chicken)
• ¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (I skipped this.)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Cook the fettuccine according to the package directions, adding the broccoli for the last 30 seconds of cooking. Drain and set aside. (I just steam-nuked the broccoli on its own.)
   
2. In a large saucepan, whisk together the milk and flour. Set the pan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes, or until the mixture thickens. Whisk in the Parmesan cheese and nutmeg and cook until the cheese melts. Add the fettuccine, broccoli, and chicken and cook for 1 minute to heat through.
   
3. Remove from the heat, fold in the parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with extra Parmesan cheese on the side.
   

SERVED: 1/5/10 (and for several lunches thereafter)