Chicken tetrazzini

This is hot dish, '80s-style. For me, when I first made this it seemed a big step up over the standard casserole fare: It had a real sauce instead of creamed soup, spaghetti as the base instead of elbow macaroni and a fancy name. 

In retrospect, it's still hot dish. But I have an abundance of cooked chicken to use up (a byproduct of making broth for all those soups for lunch), and also lately the unsettled times called for a dose of comfort food.

Chicken Tetrazzini
Adapted from “The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook” by Zoe Coulson. At the time this book first appeared, it was a major departure from the standard "red book" compendiums like Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks. There were pictures, lots of pictures. One of every recipe, and in color, no less. In this Instagram-type cookbook era, that might not seem a big deal, but at the time it was. Sure, the photos were all at the front and the photos were in the back, but you could browse them up front, see something that looked good and it told you what page you could find it on. As a newlywed, I checked it out of the college library and later asked for it for Christmas. It still might be the cookbook out of which I've tried the most recipes, hot dish or not.

Ingredients
½ cup butter, divided
½ pound sliced mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup flour
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon paprika, plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon salt (or less)*
3½ cups chicken broth
½ cup dry sherry
3 cups cooked chicken
1 cup half and half
3 ounces grated Parmesan
1 pound spaghetti, cooked until al dente

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13-by-9 pan. Spread cooked spaghetti in the bottom of the pan.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan. Cook onions, mushrooms and lemon juice until onion is softened. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add remaining butter to the pan. When melted, stir in flour, salt, nutmeg and ½ teaspoon paprika, cooking for a minute or two until it picks up a slight color. Gradually stir in broth and sherry, stirring and cooking over medium heat until sauce thickens. Stir in reserved vegetables, chicken and half and half.

Pour mixture over cooked spaghetti in pan. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and paprika. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until golden and bubbly. Let sit a few minutes before serving.

Rating: As hot dish goes, this is still one of the better interpretations. It has actual flavor and everything. It might not make the best potluck fare, since spaghetti is a bit challenging to dish up tidily. I'd probably swap to a short pasta if I was ever in my life intent on taking a hot dish to a potluck, which I guess might be good for a joke. 

*About that salt. Clearly when this book came out in 1980, salt intake guidelines weren't quite the same thing that they are now. I dialed it back a bit and didn't notice a lack of salt.