Tortellini & Chicken Bake

I've been away too long, my faithful followers! The weekend after Thanksgiving, which was also my birthday, I picked up a nasty case of food poisoning somehow. That laid me low for a few days. Then I had to get a bunch of work done on my car the same week that I needed to move some stuff from one storage place to another. Once that was completed (and thank God for the people who helped me!!), I was able to do a little Christmas shopping for my little nieces and nephews and spend an afternoon with a good friend. And somewhere in there, I picked up a nasty case of bronchitis. Like, it's been nearly three weeks and I still have the occasional coughing fit. In spite of all that, I had a nice Christmas Eve dinner with part of my family; prime rib, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, and roasted Brussels sprouts with sauteed mushrooms. We had pizza for our sibling get-together several days later; much more casual but just as delicious. Because it's pizza. And pizza is delicious.

That's been my life. I've missed cooking for myself, so I decided that I would make a list of eight different dishes to make over the course of a month, prepare two of them a week, and then blog about them. That's the extent of my New Year's resolutions, by the way. I don't do well with change; I have to ease into change, like introducing a cat to a dog. I also have a huge aversion to going with the flow. It literally makes my skin crawl to do what other people do and I rarely use the word, "literally" unlike Chris Traeger. 

This week so far, I made the following recipe and boy, I wish I had doubled it! It's definitely comfort food and it doesn't take much time to pull together.

Ingredients:

2 cups pre-cooked and shredded chicken

2 cups broccoli

1 package (16 ounces) frozen cheese-filled tortellini

5 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons flour

2 and 1/2 cups chicken broth, warmed

1/2 cup milk, warmed

4 ounces cream cheese

Up to 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set aside a large baking dish, 9" by 13" at least. 

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, broccoli, and frozen tortellini. Set aside while you're making the sauce. 

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat. Once it's melted, add the flour and cook for a couple minutes til smooth and lightly browned. Slowly add the warmed chicken broth and warmed milk, whisking constantly to ensure a smooth sauce. Continue to cook for a couple of minutes, remove from heat and then stir in the cream cheese. Taste and add salt and pepper according to your taste. Once you have a smooth sauce, gently pour over the chicken, broccoli, and tortellini. Toss gently to coat all ingredients with the sauce and transfer to the baking dish. Top with the breadcrumbs, if using, and a sprinkle of Parmesan if you so desire.

Bake for 30 minutes until bubbly and the breadcrumbs are golden brown. 

Cook's Notes:

1. You can totally use precooked, shredded chicken for this dish instead of cooking your own. My Albertson's sells packages of roasted, shredded chicken which they pull off the unsold roasted chickens from the previous day. You can also poach several boneless chicken breasts and/or thighs ahead of time; there are endless possibilities for leftover chicken and it freezes beautifully.
2. I prefer using fresh broccoli rather than frozen. Heck, I prefer fresh vegetables over frozen almost always. It's a texture thing; frozen veggies tend to be mushy. But it's up to you.
3. The original recipe calls for making the roux (the sauce) with mostly milk rather than chicken stock. I switched the proportions and I think it was just right. The most important thing in making the roux is to cook the flour into the butter so you end up with a toasty flavor instead of a raw flour flavor.
4. Cream cheese. The recipe calls for plain cream cheese but I had a partial container of chive cream cheese I needed to use up, so I used that instead. Amazing. It added just enough onion-y flavor without being overpowering. You can boost the flavor by adding garlic and/or onion powder to the roux.
5. When I was at the store buying the ingredients, the frozen cheese tortellini were priced over a dollar more than the frozen cheese ravioli. So I bought the ravioli and used that instead. Use whatever stuffed pasta you prefer. 

I hope you try a new recipe or several new ones this year! I want to inspire you to be more confident in the kitchen and to step away from following recipes to the letter, to make substitutions and to trust your intuition.