My Favourite Pasta Recipes
Of late I’ve been cooking with a lot of wine, mostly red wine, and red meat. Red wine has a lot of tannins which come from the red or purple grape skins and the oak barrels, during the fermentation process. Tannins give red wine it’s astringency, and cause a dry feeling in the mouth. These tactile sensations range from silky and velvety to highly-abrasive and unpleasantly chalky. Tannins help break the fat in red meat, and makes it more palatable and digestible. Conversely, fats and red meats counteract the astringency of tannins.
White wines have much lower tannin levels than red wines because they typically aren’t fermented with their skins or seeds, so the extraction of tannins in whites is greatly reduced. The acidity in white wines make them particularly food-friendly and refreshing. White wine has a particular affinity with mushrooms, cream and herbs such as tarragon, chervil, dill and parsley. This recipe combines white wine with a creamy mushroom sauce, garnished with parsley. I hope you’ll love it!
- Ingredients
- 500g chicken breast fillets, cut into thin strips
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 30g butter
- 5 rashers bacon, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 250g button mushrooms sliced
- 120ml (½ cup) white wine (I used a sauvignon blanc)
- 250ml (1 cup) whipping cream (35%, double cream)
- 4 spring onions (green onions), sliced
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 400g long pasta
- ¼ cup finely chopped parsley or cilantro
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Please always remember to assemble all ingredients before you start
Heat olive oil in a heavy based pan over high heat and stir fry chicken strips until no longer pink (about 5 minutes), remove and set aside.
Heat butter in the same pan until foaming, add bacon and fry until browned.
Add garlic and mushrooms
and continue frying about 5 minutes until lightly browned.
Return chicken to pan,
add flour and cook for about 1 minute,
then add wine and cook until absorbed.
Add cream and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Season to taste.
Meanwhile boil pasta in plenty of slated water as per packet instructions until almost al dente, drain (save ¼ cup pasta water). Add pasta, spring onions and parsley (if using) to sauce and stir over low heat until combined (add saved pasta water if to thick). Sprinkle with Parmesan
and serve immediately with a salad on the side.
It was fabulous
Fettuccine with Chicken and Mushroom Sauce
Preparation time: 30 minute; Cooking time: 40 minutes; Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 500g chicken breast fillets, cut into thin strips
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 30g butter
- 5 rashers bacon, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 250g button mushrooms sliced
- 120ml (½ cup) white wine (I used a sauvignon blanc)
- 250ml (1 cup) whipping cream (35%, double cream)
- 4 spring onions (green onions), sliced
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 400g long pasta
- ¼ cup finely chopped parsley or cilantro
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a heavy based pan over high heat and stir fry chicken strips until no longer pink (about 5 minutes), remove and set aside.
- Heat butter in the same pan until foaming, add bacon and fry until browned.
- Add garlic and mushrooms and continue frying about 5 minutes until lightly browned. Return chicken to pan, add flour and cook for about 1 minute, then add wine and cook until absorbed.
- Add cream and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Season to taste.
- Meanwhile boil pasta in plenty of salted water as per packet instructions until almost al dente, drain (save ¼ cup pasta water). Add pasta, spring onions and parsley (if using) to sauce and stir over low heat until combined (add saved pasta water if too thick). Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve immediately with a salad on the side.
Updated: November 23 2016
myfavouritepastime.com
My Favourite Pastime 
Interesting information about the wine in cooking. This looks fantastic.
Thank you. Wine and food…great combination!
Liz
Does the quality of the wine make a difference? For example, a $10 bottle versus a $30 bottle of wine.
Of course it does. You have to use a wine you’d enjoy drinking and a good wine can cost anything from $15 upwards for 750ml bottle. Have a great weekend!
Liz
O M G girlfriend…. you are ON A ROLL !!! You just keep posting so many fabulous recipes!! This chicken dish looks delicious! I love how you use the word ‘rashers’… just like the British. The Maltese also use many British words & phrases ’cause the British were in Malta for about 200 years. The ‘Brit’s’ came to Malta when the Maltese asked them to to kick out the French, who were occupying Malta at that time. The English navy was on it’s way back from kicking Napoleon’s butt in Egypt…. only problem…. the English never left.. Poor little Malta, with it’s strategic location in the Med. Sea, was constantly governed by foreigners. (Sorry about the tiny lesson in Maltese history…. but I just LOVE history & I just loved Malta when we lived there.)
Hi Cecile
I went to a school with a British curriculum, ha ha! Oh I’ve actually enjoyed the mini history lesson. History was my worst subject in school. I didn’t care much for it. I loved Geography though. I should add Malta to my bucket list. Have a fabulous weekend!
Liz
Looks lush Liz!
-Shini
Thank you, Shini!
Liz
Yum yum yum one of my favourites!
Thanks. Long time no see!
Liz
Yeah Liz life gets in the way sometimes and I’m just contemplating what I’ll blog next 🙂
I look forward to your next post. Take care and have a great weekend!
Liz
Thanks Liz 🙂 hope you have an exceptional one too.
Thank you!
You were thinking of me, right? Admit it Liz 😉 You’ve even used spring onions instead of onions! Great recipe! Can’t wait to try it 🙂
Totally thinking of you. Erica. Don’t you love spring onions? I know you do! Have a great week!
Liz
Love is a stretch. I tolerate it barely 😉
Have a nice weekend! ❤️
Ha ha, most people do. have a great weekend!
Liz
Looks and sounds incredible!
Thank you.
Liz
Another delicious looking recipe. You really must stop torturing me!
Ha ha. How are the tomatoes and all the sauces you’ve been stocking? You freezer must be full to capacity. Have a great week!
Liz
The freezer is getting full! I wanted to make something for tea this afternoon but decided I really should thaw some cake that is taking up space in the freezer!
I hope you had the thawing cake for tea. Enjoy the weekend!
liz
We did enjoy the thawed cake. The boys did well with their manners for afternoon tea. I just get nervous when they want to clear the table of the bone china, luckily nothing broke! Hope you’re enjoying your weekend.
And by the way as they grow older they break even more things..weird, isn’t eat? Each of my four children have broken at least four or more things, this year alone. I stopped screaming. Now I just look and shake my head in disbelief!!! So many broken glasses especially
Liz
I break a few things too! At least it is an excuse to get new things when they break enough! We just got new cocktail glasses a while ago since we were down to 3. We are also due for new wine glasses soon….
Ha ha nice to know everyone experiences the same thing and it’s true that it’s always nice to get a new batch of glasses or plates after they are drastically reduced. Have a great evening!
Liz
Make room for one more! I’m really loving all these recent postings of your Liz! Quick and easy. I won’t be cooking tonight as I have to work at the bingo and won’t get home til after 10 so perhaps I will give this a go on Friday night. All I need to buy are some mushrooms and I’m ready to experiment! It’s very hot here right now, and I don’t care to use my oven when it’s like this. My kitchen is small and the heat from the oven warms it up really quickly. I’ve actually been eating cold chicken or ham, raw vegetables and salad lately! Good for the waist line I’m told. Mine needs a lot of attention these days! I’ll be heading off on my Alaska cruise in a couple of weeks and you know what you do on cruises…..eat! Hope your days are going well.
Hi there Sandy,
It’s so good to hear from you. Our summer here is like fall. Cool and rainy and sometimes it gets chilly in the night. I hope we will have a warmer winter though. I would hate to imagine another cold winter again.
You shall be busy tonight it seems, but it’s for a good cause. I am eating as usual, even baking and making soups. You waist mist be looking good then. Mine remains the same, probably worse. Oh my another cruise for you. How lovely. I am sure you’ll enjoy yourself. Have a good week and thanks for your support.
Liz
I am diving head first directly into this bowl! ;-> Everything I adore!!!
Virtual hugs,
Judie
Hey Judie, please don’t drown in there…eh!
I love everything too!
Virtual Hugs,
Liz
Smacking lips while coming up for air!
I am smacking lips too after tasting that nice spanish rice soup of yours. Boy, didn’t I drool over it?
Liz
It was really incredible!
I know. It looks incredible!
liz
;->