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Loaded [Diet] Chicken Alfredo (Chicken/Mushroom/Pork)
Ingredients
- 1 Lb Fettuccine
- 1.5-2Lb Boneless/Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 12oz Cured Salt Pork (1 package usually), sliced and diced, half inch pieces or less - cut of the rind (or alternatively, you could cut the rind into thin short strips or bits and fry it crispy)
- 8-12oz of shredded or grated Parmesan Cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano is best)
- 16oz / 1quart Heavy Cream (Try get the one without chemicals, just pasteurized, not ultra-pasteurized)
- 1 Bundle of Parsley (curly or flat, whatever) - chop it just before adding to pot
- 3 Tablespoons all purpose (wheat) flour
- 1 whole garlic - sliced or chopped
- 1 medium/large onion - diced
- 8-12oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced/pieces
- 1/4 cup of butter (1 stick)
- 16 cups (4 quarts) of water, to boil pasta, and pasta water to be used further
- Some salt - prefer Kosher as it is easier to not overdo it
- lots of fresh ground pepper
- a few pinches of crushed dry roesmary (fresh would work, but chop it up, remove stem)
- 1 Beer or Glass of wine of choice - for the cook while cooking
Standard Operating Procedure
I recommend reading through this to understand what you be doing - it could have been written simpler without any parallelism, but i tried to write it the way i do it.
- Start your pastawater - salted. I usually use a larger pot, to make the roux in and combine it all later - i usually also have a pinch of pepper in the pastawater
- Salt/pepper your chicken thighs - and a pinch of rosemary to each
- Start cooking your chicken in a skillet on medium/high heat, you want good caramelization. (I do most of my skillet cooking in a large cast iron pan). Chicken does NOT have to be fully cooked, as that will happen below)
- Cook the pasta - make sure it is very al-dente, as it will cook further in the sauce
- Drain pasta, KEEP 9 CUPS OF THE PASTA WATER, it will be used below. Set pasta aside for now
- Put 9'ish cups of the pastawater in a pot, same pot is fine
- Add half your garlic and half your onion to the water
- Put your browned chicken in the water and boil
- Needs to boil for at least 10 minutes - usually it takes me 15-20 minutes for the skillet-cooking below, that would be a good amount - idea is to make the water be a thin stock
- In your frying pan, medium/high heat - crisp up your Salt Pork - add pepper
- When pork starts crisping - add the mushroom pieces - let it start getting crispy (takes a bit of time and heat) - add pepper
- When mushrooms start getting crispy - add the rest of your onion to start browning it - add pepper
- Remove Chicken from stock - set stock aside
- Dice up chicken and put in the skillet - add pepper
- Add rest of garlic to skillet - can be done earlier, just watch not to burn it
- Start a Roux in a large pot (same pot as pasta/chicken is fine), melt butter, add the flour and whisk. Add the stock to it, except half a cup for deglazing below - whisk/stir for a smooth sauce. Boil it
- Turn off skillet heat - add half a cup of stock to it - deglaze the pan - add pepper
- When pot/sauce has boiled for at least 5 minutes - add heavy cream, add all the Parmesan cheese, bring to a near boil
- Add skillet content - add the pasta - stir together - reduce heat
- Taste test - pending on ingredients, you may need to add salt, but do not do so without tasting. Add pepper to liking (i probably use about 5 tablespoons total for this dish layered throughout)
- Add chopped parsley
- If consistency is a bit thin, let it boil for a few minutes - if it is a bit thick, add water/cream (or chicken stock) - just stir the bottom and watch the heat as it tends to stick and set.
That should do it - serve with your favorite hot and fresh rolls or bread, and a glass of Red wine.
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