Chicken Parmesan Tetrazzini

An easy, family pleaser, every time!

History of..Tetrazzini is an American dish made with diced poultry or seafood and mushroom in a butter/cream and cheese sauce flavored with wine or sherry. It is served hot over linguine, spaghetti, egg noodles, or some other types of pasta, garnished with parsley, and sometimes topped with breadcrumbs, almonds, canned fried onions, or cheese (or a combination). Tetrazzini can be prepared as a baked noodle casserole, sometimes with steps taken to give it a browned crust. Shortcut recipes for home cooking sometimes use canned cream of mushroom soup or other cream soups.

The dish is named after the Italian opera star Luisa Tetrazzini.[1]

It is widely believed to have been invented circa 1908–1910 by Ernest Arbogast, the chef at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California, where Tetrazzini made her American debut at the Tivoli as Gilda in Rigoletto on January 11, 1905.[2] However, other sources attribute the origin to the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City.[3][4] Good Housekeeping published the first reference to turkey tetrazzini in October 1908, saying readers could find the dish of cooked turkey in a cream sauce, with spaghetti, grated cheese, sliced mushrooms, and bread crumbs on top, at "the restaurant on Forty-second Street."[5]

The chicken tetrazzini was made famous by chef Louis Paquet.[6][7]

No universal standard for the dish exists, so various parts are missing or substituted in various recipes, for example, another kind of crumbs or different cheeses. Other varieties substituted cream of celery soup as a base. The name is often expanded to describe the specific meat used (e.g., chicken tetrazzini, or tuna tetrazzini).

An easy, home-style, pasta dish, with several Italian touches with the Parmesan cheese, pasta and cream, the chunks of tender chicken, herbaceous green pepper and garlic and the garnish of toasted almonds, give just enough sophistication to make this a star of your meal for friends or as a member of a buffet.

chicken tetrazzini

1 ½ cups cooked shredded turkey or chicken

 8 oz. dry spaghetti

4 tablespoons butter

 6 tablespoons flour

3 cups turkey or chicken broth

 5 tablespoons finely minced green bell pepper

1 cup finely grated, parmesan cheese, divided in half

 1 cup heavy or light cream

 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

 1 cup sliced mushrooms, sauteed until soft in 1 tab. butter

 ½ cup sliced almonds – toasted til golden in dry skillet

2 - 3 tablespoons freshly parsley, chopped

¾ cup dry bread crumbs tossed in 2 tablespoons melted butter 

    -Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Stir in flour with whisk and stir for 1 minute until smooth.  Add broth, cream, salt and pepper and cook over medium heat, until thickened and bubbly, stirring frequently.  Stir in parmesan cheese until smooth.  Remove from heat. Place in large mixing bowl.

     -Stir in cooked and drained spaghetti, mushrooms, turkey/chicken, minced green pepper and parsley.  Place in lightly buttered casserole dish. Garnish with almonds and buttered bread crumbs, then sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

-Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serves 8.

Tender noodles and chicken in a creamy Parmesan sauce!