Bri Strikes Again!

On this week's episode of Bri's Big Diner, she came over for one of Michelle's favorite dinners, parmesan cream noodle casserole (for lack of a better name).  I posted the recipe for this dish at http://lawschoolfoodguy.blogspot.com/2010/03/overstated-aversion-to-cassserole.html.  I think this dish is reasonably good; however, Michelle loves this meal.  She doesn't often put in cooking requests for me, but she requests this one fairly frequently. 

I texted Bri the menu for the evening, and even though she was in the Armpit of America (St. Louis, though justifiably you may have thought I was going to say Detroit.  The problem with that thought is Detroit is a much worse part of the body that doesn't bear mentioning in a family-oriented blog such as this one.), she decided she would make it in time for dinner.

As I began looking through the ingredients, I noticed she bought asparagus and there was no broccoli.  I guess I was subbing out the broccoli for asparagus then.  The part of this meal that I didn't like the last few times I have made it was that there wasn't enough sauce.  To remedy this issue, I upped all ingredients by 50%.  I felt that this would give it enough liquid to have a decent sauce, but not enough that it would get gross and soggy.

My plan with the asparagus was to just toss it on top before I put it in the oven and let it roast for 10 minutes.  What I didn't realize was that the asparagus apparently acts as a shield for the chicken, so some of it was woefully undercooked when I took it out of the oven.  Next time I make this dish, I'll cook it for 15 minutes at 400 instead of 10 minutes.  The cooking time was a bit of a mistake on my part, but the liquid amount was perfect to coat the noodles, but not enough that they were floating in it.

I like how this dish has evolved.  I'm still more of a fan of it with broccoli than asparagus, but you should try it for yourself and be the judge.