Steve's Linguine with Chicken, Broccoli & Mushrooms

Here's what the completed ready-to-serve plate will look like.  The garlic bread was made simply by adding a little garlic powder & garlic salt to some melted unsalted butter (or olive oil); adding in a handful of grated Parmesan; spreading this mixture on sliced Italian or French bread slices; then wrapping the slices up in aluminum foil and placing in a 350 degree oven.  While the bread is warming up you can start preparing the pasta dish.

We get our broccoli florets washed, bagged & ready to use from Price Costco and I just cook them up by pouring some on top of a steamer basket inserted into a 3 quart saucepan with a little water added.

Ingredients: mushrooms (rear left) which need to be rinsed off  & then sliced, chicken breast meat (rear right) that was simmered for about 25 minutes in water then deboned & shredded, broccoli florets (right front), linguine (left front), and Creamy Ragu Alfredo sauce (middle).

Here you can see the pasta cooking in the large rear pot, the broccoli about to be steamed (once I put the lid on), and the mushroom slices sauteing in butter in my favorite cast iron skillet.

Steam your broccoli lightly then drain.  Avoid overcooked broccoli.  Cut into bite size pieces.

Saute the sliced mushrooms for a  few minutes while the pasta is cooking. 

Sometimes I make my own homemade Alfredo sauce by melting 4 tablespoons butter, adding a cup of heavy cream and a scant cup of grated Parmesan then giving it a good sprinkling with black pepper.  However tonight I just used a jar of Ragu and rinsed it out with some heavy cream to add into the sauce.  This thins the sauce a little so then I'll thicken it back up to the desired level with the addition of some grated Parmesan.

Here is the Parmesan cheese and the style of grater which I use to grate cheese to put  in the mushroom sauce.  It's the cheese that makes the sauce so get the best cheese you can afford.  I then place the grater on the dinner table for folks to grate their own additional amount if they want more. 

Grate some Parmesan cheese and add it to the mushroom sauce.

To finish the mushroom sauce add some freshly grated black pepper to taste.

Use a colander to drain the pasta

Place the pasta, mushroom sauce, broccoli, & chicken into a large bowl. Note the pronged plastic pasta fork which makes tossing and serving this dish so easy.

Toss it all together. 

 

Time to sit down and enjoy our meal.