Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken Tetrazzini is like an old Minnesota casserole, with three different kinds of cream-of-something soup, except I clipped this recipe out of Southern Living magazine about 25 years ago.  If it were a real Minnesota casserole it would have a super cool name like Creamy Chicken Spaghetti casserole.  The recipe actually calls for vermicelli noodles, which are a little thinner than spaghetti.  But a true Minnesota casserole name isn’t that exotic.  You can use any long thin noodles you prefer.  This casserole recipe makes a lot of food, so I sometimes divide it into two baking dishes and freeze half. The full recipe feeds about 10-12 people.  It works great with leftover cooked turkey or with cooked rotisserie chicken.  My New Mexico teenagers like it a lot and ate every last bit, but requested that I add green chile next time.  They just say that to make me crazy.  New Mexicans add green chile to every meal.  I think that makes everything taste the same.  And this classic recipe is fantastic exactly the way it is, with cheese, chicken, mushrooms, noodles and a creamy sauce.  Plus it’s really really easy to pull together. But feel free to add green chiles if that’s your thing.