Great Date Plates: Chicken broccoli alfedo, Student style
When you have your own Domino’s delivery guy and everyone at Hamilton’s knows you on a first-name basis, you experience a turning point.
Your date-night food is getting dull, and when it’s not dull, it’s too expensive. But what is a college student to do?
Don’t worry, though – I’m here to help.
Over the semester, I’m going to provide recipes that are super easy, super cheap and impressive.
The key is making meals that are part homemade, part out of a can.
And always remember, presentation counts for probably about 60 percent of the meal. Even if it doesn’t taste great, appearances mean a lot.
I learned this first meal from my former roommate, Kristalyn Stenberg.
It’s incredibly fast and easy and tastes so amazing – and when you dish it up, it’s a wowzer.
Gray Brick #4’s Chicken Broccoli Alfredo
2 chicken breasts, cubed and cooked (or three, four or five – one breast per person)
Cooking tip: you can cook the chicken up to two days in advance to speed up this final process. Just pop it in the microwave for about 45 seconds before adding it to the pasta.
1 small head of broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
Fettuccine or other similar pasta
1 jar of your favorite alfredo sauce
Directions:
Read through these instrutions before you start. Trust me on this.
You basically have to eyeball the amount of fettuccine before you cook it.
To help the cooking go faster, break the fettuccine in half before putting it in the boiling water.
Otherwise, follow the directions on the back of the box.
After you’ve drained it, put it back into the pot you cooked it in and pour a little bit of alfredo over the pasta.
This will help mix the other ingredients in without the pasta sticking together. And that would be gross.
While you’re cooking the pasta, bring some water to a boil and add the broccoli.
Turn the heat down, leaving it on a low boil until the broccoli is the perfect tenderness for you – I prefer a tender crisp texture.
Add the chicken and broccoli to the fettuccine and then pour on more alfredo – as much as you’d like.
The key to making this really incredible is in the final presentation.
I like to garnish my dishes. A good way to spruce up this meal is to center the pasta on a plate and sprinkle some dried parsley (or fresh if you really want to go all out) around the perimeter of the plate.
Serve, eat and enjoy.
Mary Carman is a Senior in American studies. To share your favorite recipe or show off your impressive cooking
skills, e-mail mkimbercarma@cc.usu.edu