Spaghetti with Chicken in Mushroom Sauce

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Spaghetti with Chicken in Mushroom sauce

My 4 year old daughter loves mushroom sauce and sometimes she prefers pasta over rice, so this is a product of her taste, trying to incorporate some vegetables in it and at the same time, the mother tries to avoid rich creamy sauce for some obvious reasons (i.e. she’s deliciously creamy enough!).  Seriously, for this recipe,  I skipped adding cream, as I used to, instead I boosted the amount of garlic and pepper to have some contrasting flavors of the earthy mushrooms, hence, it is still yummy less the extra calories.  But I found another way to make it tastier by using low fat milk loaded with garlic, will tackle that in another post with that picture.

Meantime, for reference, here it is.

Ingredients:

250 g. chicken breast, thinly sliced

300 g. button mushrooms, sliced

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 bulb of white onion

1 red capsicum/bell pepper

1 green capsicum/bell pepper

1 cube of chicken broth dissolved in 1 ½ C. warm water

olive oil to stir fry

1 T. cornstarch dissolved in 1 T. water

Freshly ground pepper

Salt

250 g. spaghetti – Prepared as per packet instructions.

Brown mushrooms in a heavy sauce pan with a dash of olive oil, set aside.  Sauté onion and garlic until translucent and fragrant, add chicken, add browned mushrooms, add warm water with chicken broth, and season with freshly ground pepper.  Bring to boil. While boiling, add cornstarch mixture gradually until the sauce thickens.  Add cooked spaghetti and mix.  Now add cheese and serve while it is still warm.

Note: As this has been a family favorite, a different variations has been developed, skipping the amount of water in the recipe.

1.     Add cooking cream to thicken the sauce and add 1 clove of garlic (grated)

2.     Alternative to the cream, 1 ½ C of low fat milk and 1 clove of garlic (grated)

It is also worth noting that while cooking the sauce, prepare the pasta at the same time so when the sauce is ready, mix the pasta straight away while it is still hot. It takes a skill to do it but once you’ll get the hang of it, it’s gonna be easy. Timing is essential.