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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes |
Ready In: 0 Minutes Servings: 6 |
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At the beginning of my cooking career, I worked as a sauté cook in a nice restaurant that served a version of tequila lime fettuccine, modified from California Pizza Kitchen. This was my favorite dish to sauté. Read more . The cream sauce was made ahead of time, allowing the dish to be sautéed in very short order. To this day, I always make the cream sauce ahead of time, and cook the pasta ahead of time - I just find it so much more convenient. I know how to make the cream sauce because I was prep before I was a sauté cook! I hope you enjoy this is much as I do! It seems a bit daunting, but if you break it down to making the sauce and cooking the pasta ahead of time - it's very simple and fun! Also, when adding the sauce to the vegetables and chicken, let it reduce until very thick and dark, but not burned... this intensifies the flavor and brings out a wonderful deep and complex flavor. Ingredients:
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro |
2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic |
2 tablespoons minced jalapeno pepper (seeds and veins may be removed) skin removed |
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (reserve 1 tablespoon for sauté) |
1/2 cup chicken stock |
5 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lime juice |
2 tablespoons gold tequila, flamed |
11/2 cup heavy cream |
1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced |
1/2 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced |
1/2 medium yellow bell pepper thinly sliced |
1/2 medium green bell pepper, thinly sliced |
1 pound dry spinach fettuccine or 2 pounds fresh |
1 1/4 pound chicken breast, diced 3/4 inch |
3 tablespoons soy sauce |
*to peel a jalapeno, heat about a quarter cup of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers. add the jalapeno and roll it around until the skin is blistered on all sides. remove the jalapeno from the pan and robe with a paper towel -- the skin will come right off. use the olive oil for other dishes -- it is infused with jalapeno flavoring |
**the fastest way to flame the tequila is to pour it into a wide glass, and light a match. when the flame dies out it is done. alternately you may use a small sauté pan. |
Directions:
1. Cook 1/3 cup cilantro, garlic and jalapeno in 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Add stock, tequila and 3 tablespoons lime juice. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until reduced to a paste like consistency; add cream and reduce by 1/2 cup. Set aside.
2. Prepare rapidly boiling, salted water to cook pasta; cook until al dente,8 to 10 minutes for dry pasta, approximately 3 minutes for fresh. Pasta may be cooked slightly ahead of time, rinsed and oiled and then flashed (reheated) in boiling water or cooked to coincide with the finishing of the sauce/topping.
3. Melt remaining butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat
4. Add soy sauce, remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice and chicken. Sauté until chicken is partially cooked, about two minutes
5. Add onion and peppers, stirring occasionally until the vegetables begin to wilt
6. Add tequila/lime cream and bring the sauce to a boil; boil gently until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thick (about 5 minutes). At this point, the sauce should be a deep brown, and quite aromatic
7. Add the fettuccine noodles and coat well
8. Transfer to serving dish and garnish with fresh cilantro
9. Serve family style or transfer to serving dishes, evenly distributing chicken.
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