Cheap Eats

Given the state of flux the universe is in, Madam Badwolf and I have started trimming expenses. One big thing in our house is the cost of food, and one big area of discussion is how to still feed ourselves with healthy food that tastes good but does not cost the national debt of Slobobvia at the checkout counter.

From this has come a new blog category, Cheap Eats. I’ll discuss various meals, their origin, how to stretch them, and how to produce follow-on dishes.

For this specific post and recipe, I’ll take the Costco traffic driver special (Rotisserie Chicken) and create a follow-up meal. In my “Taking Stock” post, I use the carcass of a rotisserie chicken and generate a good, full-bodied stock. In this post, we will use that stock to generate a broken pasta risotto and strengthen the risotto by including leftover chicken meat from the rotisserie chicken.

From Wikipeida:

Risotto (/rɪˈzɒtoʊ/ riz-OT-oh, Italian: [riˈzɔtto, -ˈsɔt-]; from riso, ‘rice’) is an Italian rice dish cooked with broth until it reaches a creamy consistency. The broth can be derived from meat, fish or vegetables. Many types of risotto contain butter, onion, white wine, and Parmesan cheese. It is one of the most common ways of cooking rice in Italy. Saffron was originally used for flavor and its signature yellow color.

Risotto in Italy is often a first course (primo), served before a second course (secondo), but risotto alla milanese is often served with ossobuco alla milanese as a one-course meal.

Cheap Risotto for 2

A risotto with noodles is not really risotto; it only refers to the similar technique used in that famous Italian dish.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Course Cheap, Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Pasta

Cuisine American, Italian

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Butter
• 8 oz Pasta uncooked, broken into 1" pieces
• 2 cloves Garlic Peeled, minced
• 2 cups Chicken Stock Homemake is best
• 1/2 tsp Chili Flake optional, to taste
• 2-3 tbsp Parmesan cheese Fresh Grated, aand to taste
• 1 tbsp Parsley Washed, Chopped

Instructions

 

• Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat; add spaghetti and toast, stirring constantly, until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Stir garlic into spaghetti pieces and cook for 30 seconds.
• Pour in 1/2 cup broth and increase heat to medium-high. Stir spaghetti and broth until all the liquid is absorbed, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Repeat this process until all of the stock is absorbed and noodles are desired tenderness,
• Reduce heat to low. Season spaghetti with red pepper flakes and salt to taste. Remove from heat.
• Stir Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, butter and parsley into spaghetti and serve.

Notes

Basic pasta risotto technique.

Originally created to use left over rotisserie chicken.

Strip the carcus of meat and then cook the carcus with aromatics to generate a stock.

Use the stock to cook the pasta and stir in the meat as a add-in.

Keyword Chicken, Pasta, Risotto

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!