When I was a child, my grandfather made a dish I’ve tried to re-create for decades.
Tonight, I think I did it. Of course, it has been decades, so my memory might be wrong. Still, it tastes like my memory of this dish, and that’s good enough for me.
It takes a bit of time to make. Translated from German it means “green hens on hay”, and I’ve modified it to “nesting green hens”.
You need 1 chicken breast, sauteed in butter. Real, unsalted butter. An entire stick of it, because you’ll be using the butter left in the skillet for the rest of the dish. While you’re sauteeing the chicken, put a pot of water on to boil for cooking the pasta. I like penne best because it looks like sticks and holds the sauce well.
You’ll need 1 pound of frozen baby Brussels sprouts. Take the sauteed chicken out of the butter and cut it into small pieces. While you’re cutting up the chicken, sautee the sprouts in the butter, and put the pasta into the water which should be boiling by now.
While the pasta cooks, scoop the sauteed sprouts out of the butter and make a roux with the butter and some flour. Add hot chicken broth (can be made with hot water and bouillion cubes, but real broth is tastier) to make a thick sauce. Thin it with cream. Drain the pasta, and stir the chicken, pasta, and sprouts into the sauce. Season with salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, and parsley to taste.
Some people like to sauce the chicken and sprouts, and ladle that over the cooked and drained pasta.
Either way is very good.
