Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo From Scratch in 35 min!

I'm still having difficulty convincing people that I don't like to cook. Weird right?

I get that I'm a bit of an anomaly when it comes to the kitchen. My desire to avoid too many processed foods and save money by making some things from home occasionally overwhelms my lack of interest in spending time over a hot stove. That being said, I try really hard to limit that amount of time spent over a hot stove and surprisingly manage to throw together a great number of meals in a pretty short amount of time. My favorite is when I can manage 30 minutes or less.

We are channeling Rachel Ray here....

With this meal I did miss the mark by 5 minutes. Gimme a break though, homemade pasta. With a rolling pin. No fancy equipment. Did I really say that? Type that? Why yes, I did. So here is the run down by time including ingredients I used so you can do the same. If you are feeling froggy.

Ribbit.


Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo from scratch in 35 min - with homemade pasta

5:30 pm
- Add 1 stick of butter to small saucepan (this will be for the alfredo sauce) and turn heat on low to melt
- Add 4 cups (or more) of water (I used slightly frozen chicken broth) to another larger pan and turn on high to boil for your pasta

5 minutes in 

- Cut 1.5lbs. of chicken breasts into 1/2" pieces and add to medium to large fry pan. Add your favorite oil for cooking if desired. I tend not to add anything simply because the chicken usually releases enough water while cooking that you don't really risk burning it if you stir fairly regularly. Add salt and pepper if desired, but the alfredo sauce will add salt to the final dish, so you may want to hold off until the end. Turn on heat to low/medium. Stir periodically.

5:35 pm
- Your chicken should be just starting to cook and your butter melting well. I still had some ice in my chicken broth at this point since it was homemade broth I had frozen and only mostly thawed out.
- For the pasta: In medium bowl, mix 1 cup of all purpose flour with 1/2 cup of water and a dash of salt. Feel free to use semolina flour if you want to get fancy, but all purpose works just fine. When the dough comes together, transfer it to a well floured surface and knead until it is elastic and not so sticky.

5:40pm
- Wrap your pasta dough in plastic and allow to rest. (Note: Here is where the pasta gurus will be pulling their hair out. In theory, you should knead for more than 5 minutes and rest for longer as well. Since I was trying to be all impressive with expediency, I took less than optimal time. It still turned out well).
- Stir chicken.
- To the melted butter, add 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (I use the good ol' sprinkle kind, but feel free to be fancy with fresh grated), 2-3 minced, crushed, or grated cloves of garlic (based on clove size and taste preference), and 1/4 cup (or more if needed) of milk to thin the mixture. Whisk until well blended. Turn the heat up slightly to help melt the cheese.

5:45pm
- Take the dough out of the plastic and divide into two equal parts. Flour your work surface well and roll it out to about 1/16-1/8" thick. Using a ruler and pizza cutter, cut the dough into thin strips. I don't measure, I just guess - the ruler helps me keep my cuts a bit straighter. Lay out pasta strips on a rack to dry slightly.
- Stir chicken, it should be cooking pretty well at this point.
- Stir alfredo sauce. Turn heat to low if looking well blended and mostly smooth.
- Pasta water/broth should be starting to simmer at this point.

5:55pm
- Steam some microwave steamable green beans or broccoli. I like broccoli with this meal since I can add butter and parmesan cheese to compliment the alfredo sauce.
- Add pasta to the boiling water or broth and let it cook. Since this is fresh made, it will only take a few minutes to cook.
- Stir chicken, it should be mostly done.

6:00pm
- Drain chicken of extra juices. Add alfredo sauce to pan with chicken. Strain pasta and add to chicken pan. Mix well to fully coat with the sauce, but take care not to rip apart the pasta.
- Remove veggies from microwave and mix with butter and parmesan cheese (if using broccoli).

6:05pm
- Plate your meal and enjoy!



Ok, now, just a few (dozen) notes:
- I did not do any prep ahead aside from setting out the frozen chicken and broth earlier in the day to thaw. There was no pre-measuring of ingredients. As I was making this, I was pulling things out of the pantry, fridge, and cabinets. Obviously gathering supplies and measuring ingredients ahead of time will expedite the whole process once you get going.
- I only used half of the pasta dough. My family isn't huge on pasta, so we only eat small amounts. If you roll out and cook both halves of the dough, you'd obviously be adding a bit of time. After dinner I did roll out the rest, cut it up and put it in the dehydrator to dry for a future meal.
- Feel free to opt for fresh or frozen broccoli that gets steamed on the stove. Just set that up at the beginning when you are setting up your other pots and it should be good to go by the time you finish everything else.
- Using jarred (or premade) sauce and premade pasta makes this meal go way faster, so keep that in mind since even without making it all at once (or not doing it all from scratch) it's still a quick meal.
- This meal fed my family of four with only some broccoli left over. You can probably do the full batch of pasta and up to 2 lbs of chicken with the same amount of sauce - the amounts I used resulted in extra sauce. Alternately, you don't have to use the whole batch of alfredo sauce and can save some for later.

And now for the recipe if you want it all in one place:

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Afredo Sauce:
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4-1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2-4 cloves minced garlic (to taste)
milk to thin if needed

Mix ingredients over low heat stirring frequently until well blended and cheese melted.

Fettuccine Pasta:
1 cup flour (semolina or all purpose work well)
1/2 cup water
dash of salt
extra flour for kneading

Mix ingredients in medium bowl until they come together. Transfer dough to floured surface and knead for about ten minutes until the dough is elastic and no longer sticky adding flour as needed. When correct consistency is achieved, wrap in plastic and let stand for about 20 minutes. After twenty minutes, divide dough into two parts wrapping one back in plastic while you work with the other. Roll out to about 1/16"-1/8" thick. Using a straight-edge or freehand, cut with pizza cutter or knife into thin strips about 1/4" wide. Lay out to dry slightly before cooking.

To cook, bring a full pot of salted water or broth to a boil and add pasta. When pasta is done, it will be slightly translucent and float at the top.

Chicken Breast:
1.5-2lbs. chicken breast cut into 1/2" cubes

Cook chicken in small amount of your favorite cooking oil until done.


Combine cooked pasta, alfredo sauce, and chicken. Serve with steamed vegetables and top with a sprinkle of parsley if desired.

Homemade Chicken Broth

There was a time not too long ago that I never felt I had a need for chicken broth. Sounds strange, right? Or not, depending on where you are. I basically kept bouillon cubes (or granulated bouillon) around just in case broth was needed, but I rarely ever used them. I'm not exactly sure what triggered the change, likely my discovery of the pressure cooker, but now it seems like I go into a panic if I'm out.

I'll make a broth out of anything. My pressure cooker is my best friend for this. And it all started about four years ago...

When I was very pregnant with my second and my hubby was working off-shore, my father-in-law came into town to make sure someone was around in case I popped. He showed me the wonder of the pressure cooker while he was visiting. Until then, it was a scary and mysterious pot looking thing that stayed stashed in my cabinet unused. When I discovered I could make shredded chicken to have on hand, I was sold. How incredibly convenient! Believe it or not, I still have yet to learn the art of cooking a chicken for shredding in a slow cooker. Oh well.

So now, shredded chicken and it's by-product friend, the broth are now staples at my house. As is pretty much any broth I can save from anything I make up. Got leftover carcasses? Lemme at it! And really, I'm not even all about the whole bone broth thing, I just like being able to use a more flavorful base than water with ingredients I control and without extra preservatives. If they happen to have extra nutrients, all the better!

So, now to the nitty gritty... How do I make it, and how do I use the pressure cooker to do so?

First off, my pressure cooker is old school. I have no idea how to use a programmable one or anything with dials and buttons. Mine has a pot, a lid, and a tippler. That's about it. The lid has a pressure lock that prevents the pot from being opened while pressurized, but that's about as fancy as it gets.

So, basic instructions, start with water. I usually just fill the pot about halfway. Depending on how much additional stuff I throw in, the water level may get too high, so I try to be conservative when I start. I'd rather add more water than have to pull some out. I put the chicken in which in my case is usually boneless skinless breast pieces. I've done a whole chicken, but the bones disintegrate and are sort of a pain to deal with, so I'd rather not do that. Hubs prefers just the white meat anyway, so that's usually what I have on hand.

After the chicken, the aromatics. In most cases, I stick with the basics - carrots, celery, onions, and garlic. If I have something else around that won't otherwise get used, I'll throw that in as well, but in most cases, I'd reserve that for a veggie stock later. Usually it's 2-3 carrots, 2-3 stalks (sticks, branches, whatever you call them - not 2-3 whole heads) of celery with leaves, half a dozen cloves of garlic, and up to about half an onion. I add salt and pepper and that's about it.

I fill up to the top line with more water if needed and close the whole thing up. The heat is turned on high to bring it to a boil and pressurize. This can take about 10-20 minutes. Once pressurized, I'll turn down the heat to medium and cook for 30 minutes. When done, I'll remove from heat and let the pressure drop. I read somewhere that if you let it depressurize on it's own, that it will make the meat juicier since the liquid (and associated nutrients) that have left it will have time to seep back in. If you quickly depressurize (for instance, I can drop the pressure and unlock it by running water over the top), the nutrients will stay in the liquid and the meat will be drier. I can't really say for sure. I think the pressure cooker usually makes a drier meat comparatively and I haven't noticed a difference from fast or slow depressurization, so I usually make the judgment call based on how much time I've got. Since I'm using the meat and the broth anyway, we'll get the nutrients no matter where they end up. When you open it up, it looks like this:

I pull out the meat with tongs, taking care to get all the little pieces I can find that have fallen off. It will literally fall apart on it's own. I'll set the chicken aside to let it cool a bit before handling. Once it has had time to cool, I'll use a couple of forks and pull it apart. I divide it up into zip top bags - usually two chicken breasts per bag - and squash them flat. This way, they stack and store easier in the freezer. In most cases, I label them with at least the date.

I let the rest of the pot sit and cool a bit (well most of the time). Then I'll pour it through a strainer into a holding container. Straining it this way gets all the big chunks out before I refrigerate it. For this purpose, my favorite container is my big 8 cup batter bowl. I usually fill it up and also my 4 cup batter bowl. I have also used large pitchers, so whatever you have on hand will work. Just a big enough container or combo of containers to hold it all. I will typically yield 8-10 cups total. Once it has cooled sufficiently, I put the lid on and put it in the fridge to sit at least over night.

The next day (or the next, or the next), I will put my broth out of the refrigerator. It looks like this. The fat congeals on the top and doesn't look terribly appetizing, but hey, that's me. I skim off what I can and discard it.

The next step is another strain and storage. My fancy set up for this includes a coffee filter, a funnel, and a pitcher. I love the fine mesh of the coffee strainer. It makes this part so much easier by trapping all the extra bits of fat or larger chunks of pepper and the random sludge that is inevitably left in the broth. I pour it through the strainer into the pitcher. The funnel is basically to help keep it from being messy and it has a nice rim that helps the whole system prop nicely at the top of the pitcher so I don't risk dropping the filter in. Once strained the final time, I'll then measure out two cups at a time and pour it into freezer bags. I label them and lay them flat for storage. In the freezer they go! I like to do 2 cups at a time because that is roughly equivalent to a can of broth and many recipes call for 2 cups. It just makes my life easier. As an added tip, it's a good idea to put your bags in a bowl as they defrost. Random holes seem to appear in the bags, likely from bumping corners, but to avoid broth loss when defrosting, I usually place in a bowl or container just in case there is a hole somewhere in the bag.

In a future post, I will show you how I make my own powdered bouillon. You read that right. Many people will show you how to make bouillon ice cubes, but I go as far as to powder it. Keep an eye out for that post!

Until next time...