My mom’s birthday is in March and for about three years in a row, my family would do one of two things. We would go out to dinner at Macaroni Grill, where she would order Carmela’s Chicken, or we would all get together and I’d make a copy cat version of Carmela’s Chicken for her. The recipe I have for it is a great copycat recipe. It tastes exactly like the very tasty restaurant version. And would I make it exactly one time a year. Why would I make this delicious, fantastic recipe only once a year? Because that thing had 20 ounces of heavy cream in it. TWENTY OUNCES!! In fat and calories, that’s a lot. For a birthday dinner, fine, but it’s not really the sort of thing I could justify making the rest of the year.
So for today, I’ve lightened up the recipe a bit, and the end result is surprisingly low-calorie (under 500) for a creamy pasta dish. Plus, I think I like this version even better. Do you like caramelized onions? If you do, you’re going to love this dish. It’s creamy, just a bit cheesy, wonderfully smokey and slightly sweet from the onions. It definitely feels like grown up pasta!
The caramelized onions are the most important part of this dish. They must be caramelized, not browned, not softened, not mostly cooked through. They must be dark, ugly, and perfect. Otherwise your final product is going to be missing the rich sweet base note that ties the whole thing together. The caramelizing process is a little time consuming, but it’s not hard. If you’ve never caramelized onions before, don’t worry, Simply Recipes has a great step-by-step tutorial on the simple process. Have a quick read through it before starting here, so you know what each step should look like. Believe me, once you taste the finished product, you will be a convert forever.
Nutritional Information Carmela’s Chicken Adapted From: Food.com Caramelized Onions Instructions Adapted From: Simply Recipes Make-ahead Instructions: This dish is a great make-ahead dinner. The onions and chicken can be made up to two days in advance, so all you have to do day of is cook the pasta, saute the mushrooms and make the sauce. The only cooking change you need to make is to add the chicken when you add in the half and half, to ensure that it gets heated through. Low-yield Instructions: For the butter, half of 1 tablespoon is equal to 1 1/2 teaspoon. 1/3 cup wine halves at 2 tablespoons, 2 teaspoons and half of 1/4 cup of Parmesan is 2 tablespoons. The time it takes to caramelize the onion will be slightly reduced. No other cooking changes are needed. Freezer Notes: I don’t recommend this dish for freezing as the sauce and the noodles don’t hold up well. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using them. There is absolutely no additional cost to you.
