2011 Cooking Club Week 37: Chicken Tequila Fettucini

Insect Overlord

One more stand-in reporting for duty!

I've been using this recipe for about three and a half years now and I've never had a bad one yet. I actually made it for dinner yesterday with my girlfriend, but we'd eaten it before I found out we'd need pictures!

Chicken Tequila Fettucini

Ingredients
3 large chicken breasts
Tagliatelle (easier to find than fettuccini! )
1 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
1 red onion
4-6 medium mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic
2 mild chilli peppers
Fresh coriander
1 lime
soy sauce
1/2 chicken stock cube
100 ml cream
60 ml tequila
Butter or olive oil

Optional: cashew nuts; grated parmesan or cheddar cheese; vegetable stock

Serves 6

Preparation:

Step 1: Marinate
Take the juice of one half of the lime. Add a generous splash of soy sauce and half the tequila. Cut the chicken into small strips and stir in the marinate. Leave to soak in for as long as you like.

Step 2: Seasoning
Crush 2 cloves of garlic. Remove the seeds from the 2 chillies and cut into tiny pieces. Shred a handful of fresh coriander leaves.* These can be mixed together an kept in a small bowl to have them ready.

(* it may be cheaper and more practical to use tubes of garlic, chilli and coriander pastes, which can be bought in Dunnes, Tesco, etc. One teaspoon of each is a good amount for this recipe)

Step 3: Vegetables
Chop the peppers into thin strips, slice the mushrooms and cut the onion into small pieces.

Step 4: Stock
Add 150 mls of boiling water to half a cube of chicken stock. Stir in the rest of the tequila, the second half of the lemon juice and another splash of soy sauce.

Cooking:

• Heat some butter in a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the seasoning and stir-fry until the garlic starts to brown, careful not to let it burn.
• Add the chicken and the marinate to the pan and cook until the chicken shows no signs of pink
• Add a kettle of boiled water to 8 parcels of tagliatelle. Sprinkle with salt and bring to the boil. Simmer until the pasta reaches its desired texture.
• While the pasta softens, add the peppers, mushrooms and red onion to the pan. Pour in the stock/tequila/lime/soy mix and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally.
• Reduce the heat and add the 100 ml of fresh cream. Stir until the sauce is consistent throughout.
• Strain the water off the pasta. Stir the contents of the pan into the pasta and toss until the chicken, etc are spread through evenly.

Serving:

Serve on a warm plate with the grated cheese and garnish with a few leaves of coriander.

For a vegetarian option, use cashew nuts and vegetable stock instead of chicken breast and chicken stock.
It also works quite nicely without the tequila.

Faith

Oh YUM! Cannot WAIT to try this

Aoibheann

I can confirm that this is actually amazing. You'll get addicted to it so easily, it's incredibly tasty.

Mellor

Is there much flavour left from the Tequila or is it more of a gimmick?
i've no problem with doing shots of tequila, but its not the sort of flavour i'd consider tasty (compared to other drinks)

Insect Overlord

Mellor wrote: »

Is there much flavour left from the Tequila or is it more of a gimmick?
i've no problem with doing shots of tequila, but its not the sort of flavour i'd consider tasty (compared to other drinks)

There should be a hint of the flavour from the tequila, but the coriander, lime and chilli would be far more noticeable. Adding cream also helps to take the edge off it.

BaZmO*

Insect Overlord wrote: »

There should be a hint of the flavour from the tequila, but the coriander, lime and chilli would be far more noticeable. Adding cream also helps to take the edge off it.

What about using Vodka instead of Tequila? I'm gonna make this tonight but I don't fancy buying a bottle of Tequila for dinner.......I might end up forgetting to make dinner!

Insect Overlord

BaZmO* wrote: »

What about using Vodka instead of Tequila? I'm gonna make this tonight but I don't fancy buying a bottle of Tequila for dinner.......I might end up forgetting to make dinner!

It works perfectly without any alcohol at all.

I've never tried cooking with vodka so I'd prefer not to advise either way.

BaZmO*

Insect Overlord wrote: »

It works perfectly without any alcohol at all.

I've never tried cooking with vodka so I'd prefer not to advise either way.

Ok, bottle of whiskey it is so!

Insect Overlord

BaZmO* wrote: »

Ok, bottle of whiskey it is so!

Actually, where are you located? I think there are a few offies around Dublin that sell 100 ml bottles of tequila. I know there's a place in Dundrum that do them anyway. Much easier on the wallet than getting a full-sized bottle.

BaZmO*

Absolutely beautiful recipe. Had it last night and it was delish. Didn't use any booze though. Couldn't bring myself to put parmesan on it as my spidey senses were telling me that cheese and soya sauce just won't go!

Had enough ingredients to make 2 batches so I'm gonna have it again tonight.



Thanks OP. Great recipe.

Insect Overlord

That looks perfect! Fair play for the picture. Apologies again for not having photos up myself.

The Lovely Muffin

How would this work without the pepper and without (or a smaller amount) of the chilli peppers?

I am allergic to peppers and can only have a small amount of chilli powder, can't have actual chillies.

triseke

Im going to make this tomorrow night after work, looks great!

Insect Overlord

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

How would this work without the pepper and without (or a smaller amount) of the chilli peppers?

I am allergic to peppers and can only have a small amount of chilli powder, can't have actual chillies.

I've never tried it without the peppers, but I'm sure it would still be nice enough. The biggest loss would be on the visual side. The red, green and yellow makes the dish look lovely and colourful before you even begin eating.

Are there other vegetables you'd usually eat instead? I'd be interested in trying this with something different, if you could recommend anything.

Faith

BaZmO, did you think anything was missing by leaving out the alcohol? I'm having trouble sourcing anything other than 70cl bottles of Tequila. Although I could just pop to the local pub and get them to sell me a shot of it!

BaZmO*

Faith wrote: »

BaZmO, did you think anything was missing by leaving out the alcohol? I'm having trouble sourcing anything other than 70cl bottles of Tequila. Although I could just pop to the local pub and get them to sell me a shot of it!

I was actually thinking about it last night when I was having it again for dinner. I was saying that it's an unusual flavour combination, in particular with the soy sauce and cream, and was wondering if the tequila brought it all together.

That said, it's still a beautiful dish. It's like a fusion between an Italian and a Stirfry.

The Black Oil

Chicken is marinating at the moment, so I'll be making this later. Supermarket had no coriander or chili peppers, or tagliatelle (had some at home) am making do with chili flakes instead. Whiskey is part of the marinade, though.

The Lovely Muffin

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I've never tried it without the peppers, but I'm sure it would still be nice enough. The biggest loss would be on the visual side. The red, green and yellow makes the dish look lovely and colourful before you even begin eating.

Are there other vegetables you'd usually eat instead? I'd be interested in trying this with something different, if you could recommend anything.

Thank you.

I eat mushrooms, carrots, onions, peas (tinned and frozen), spuds, green beans, broccoli (the odd time), celery, white asparagus (when I can find it that is!).

Also, what Tequila do you use for this? Lol I am not familiar with tequila so don't know which one to use? I've looked online and there seems to be different tequilas.

Thanks.

Insect Overlord

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

I eat mushrooms, carrots, onions, peas (tinned and frozen), spuds, green beans, broccoli (the odd time), celery, white asparagus (when I can find it that is!).

Also, what Tequila do you use for this? Lol I am not familiar with tequila so don't know which one to use? I've looked online and there seems to be different tequilas.

Mushrooms and onions are great in this. Thin slices of carrot should work too. Mange tout might be a safe enough bet.

In the past I've made this with Jose Cuervo Especial (gold), Tres Sombreros Blanco and I think Sierra Gold. Someone got the Tres Sombreros cheap for me on holiday in Portugal. They all worked well though. Pick up something cheap to cook with if you don't plan on drinking the rest.

Honey-ec

Insect Overlord, did you get this recipe from AllRecipes.com, by any chance? I've been making this for years too, couldn't believe it when I saw it in the cooking club.

For what it's worth, I leave out the soy sauce, cause I don't think it adds anything, and I use rum instead of tequila. I also just let the chicken cook in the sauce, I don't fry it off first.

By the way, fettucine is pretty much just the American name for tagliatelle. Some people would argue that fettucine is slightly narrower, but for all intents and purposes, they're exactly the same thing.

Insect Overlord

Honey-ec wrote: »

Insect Overlord, did you get this recipe from AllRecipes.com, by any chance? I've been making this for years too, couldn't believe it when I saw it in the cooking club.

I can't remember exactly where I got it. The AllRecipes version looks vaguely familiar, but some of the measures seem different. The first time I had this dish was in Luigi Malone's restaurant in Limerick, and I checked Google for it as soon as I got home so I could make it again myself!

Honey-ec wrote: »

For what it's worth, I leave out the soy sauce, cause I don't think it adds anything, and I use rum instead of tequila. I also just let the chicken cook in the sauce, I don't fry it off first.

What kind of rum would you recommend for it? That's a spirit I hadn't thought of, and it's much easier to find in small bottles than tequila!

As for the choice of pasta, I've made this with penne and fusilli as well. It also works with gluten free pastas.

Honey-ec

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I can't remember exactly where I got it. The AllRecipes version looks vaguely familiar, but some of the measures seem different. The first time I had this dish was in Luigi Malone's restaurant in Limerick, and I checked Google for it as soon as I got home so I could make it again myself!



What kind of rum would you recommend for it? That's a spirit I hadn't thought of, and it's much easier to find in small bottles than tequila!

As for the choice of pasta, I've made this with penne and fusilli as well. It also works with gluten free pastas.

I just use white rum, Bacardi is fine. Haven't tried it with any of the golden rums, I reckoned they'd be far too sweet.

Huzzah!

I made this this evening, and it was delicious. I made it without any alcohol as I didn't have any, but I will try it with either rum or tequila the next time, because there definitely will be a next time!

Faith

I made this today too. I accidentally marinated the chicken for about 24 hours - prepared it and popped it in the fridge last night, then we decided to go to the local for ONE drink before we cooked. One drink turned into a session, so it had to wait until dinner today .

I used honey-ec's suggestion of Bacardi, and it was lovely. I'd say the tequila would be nicer though!

Little Alex

This was lovely, Insect Overlord.

Very colourful and zingy!

dixiefly

I am making this for the 2nd time today. I had enough Tequilam ;left from before for the marinade this time. I have some Southern Comfort, Whiskey and also Vodka and Brandy at home. Which of these would be best to put into the 2nd stage instead of the tequila?

Penny Dreadful

Insect Overlord wrote: »

One more stand-in reporting for duty!

I've been using this recipe for about three and a half years now and I've never had a bad one yet. I actually made it for dinner yesterday with my girlfriend, but we'd eaten it before I found out we'd need pictures!

Chicken Tequila Fettucini

Ingredients
3 large chicken breasts
Tagliatelle (easier to find than fettuccini! )
1 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
1 red onion
4-6 medium mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic
2 mild chilli peppers
Fresh coriander
1 lime
soy sauce
1/2 chicken stock cube
100 ml cream
60 ml tequila
Butter or olive oil

Optional: cashew nuts; grated parmesan or cheddar cheese; vegetable stock

Serves 6

Preparation:

Step 1: Marinate
Take the juice of one half of the lime. Add a generous splash of soy sauce and half the tequila. Cut the chicken into small strips and stir in the marinate. Leave to soak in for as long as you like.

Step 2: Seasoning
Crush 2 cloves of garlic. Remove the seeds from the 2 chillies and cut into tiny pieces. Shred a handful of fresh coriander leaves.* These can be mixed together an kept in a small bowl to have them ready.

(* it may be cheaper and more practical to use tubes of garlic, chilli and coriander pastes, which can be bought in Dunnes, Tesco, etc. One teaspoon of each is a good amount for this recipe)

Step 3: Vegetables
Chop the peppers into thin strips, slice the mushrooms and cut the onion into small pieces.

Step 4: Stock
Add 150 mls of boiling water to half a cube of chicken stock. Stir in the rest of the tequila, the second half of the lemon juice and another splash of soy sauce.

Cooking:

• Heat some butter in a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the seasoning and stir-fry until the garlic starts to brown, careful not to let it burn.
• Add the chicken and the marinate to the pan and cook until the chicken shows no signs of pink
• Add a kettle of boiled water to 8 parcels of tagliatelle. Sprinkle with salt and bring to the boil. Simmer until the pasta reaches its desired texture.
• While the pasta softens, add the peppers, mushrooms and red onion to the pan. Pour in the stock/tequila/lime/soy mix and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally.
• Reduce the heat and add the 100 ml of fresh cream. Stir until the sauce is consistent throughout.
• Strain the water off the pasta. Stir the contents of the pan into the pasta and toss until the chicken, etc are spread through evenly.

Serving:

Serve on a warm plate with the grated cheese and garnish with a few leaves of coriander.

For a vegetarian option, use cashew nuts and vegetable stock instead of chicken breast and chicken stock.
It also works quite nicely without the tequila.

I made this ^^ for dinner last night and it was absolutely delicious.

janja

Would yoghurt be ok instead of cream?Or any lower fat alternative?

Insect Overlord

janja wrote: »

Would yoghurt be ok instead of cream?Or any lower fat alternative?

I imagine plain, low fat yoghurt would do the trick. I have vague memories of using milk to make this once. :pac: It's mostly to take the edge off the chilli peppers.

janja

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I imagine plain, low fat yoghurt would do the trick. I have vague memories of using milk to make this once. :pac: It's mostly to take the edge off the chilli peppers.

Thanks Insect ! Will give it a go tonight and will report back:o

Roald Dahl

Ths was lovely. Mexican, Italian and Asian all in one!

The flavours worked really well together and the bright colours are very appealing. We're huge fans of 'rainbow on a plate'.



I would say that it would work equally good with vodka or rum instead of tequila if you don't like the evil stuff.

we also made an avocado and prawn starter to go with it, along with a shot.

Insect Overlord

Beautiful photos! I had a salmon and pasta dish a few days ago that had vodka and dill in the sauce, and it was lovely. Definitely worth experimenting with for this recipe.

Roald Dahl

Nice to hear the recipe owner, Insect Overlord!