Spaghetti Amandine

January 11, 2010 · Filed under Cooking, Food, Ingredients, Recipes · Tagged almonds, amandine, pasta, spaghetti

I have to admit, that reduction sauce from the chicken roulade was mighty tasty. I knew I had to make it again and use it as a pasta sauce, this time around. So, here you go… an Italian dish with French flavors, if you will. And since I still had some leftover meat from the roulade, it took less time to prepare.

Now, however you want to whip up this dish, just don’t skimp on the almonds and cilantro. They’re the star flavors here. By the way, I used cilantro instead of parsley simply to break away from tradition. Okay, no. It’s because cilantro is all I have at the moment. But I’m glad to say I wasn’t disappointed, in the least!

Oh, and please, use organic ingredients whenever possible. They truly make a heck of a difference in quality and taste.

Ingredients (2 servings):
1/2 cup Dry White Wine
1 cup Chicken Stock
1-2 Garlic Cloves
1 tbs finely chopped Leeks
3 tbs chopped Cilantro
1 tbs butter
1 tbs Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup Sliced Almonds
Chicken Breast (cooked and diced)
Diced cooked Veggies (Zucchini, tomato, broccoli, etc.)
1 lb. spaghetti
1 Lemon (cut in half)

Directions:
Cook spaghetti to al dente.

Using a sauce pan, toast almond slices in medium-low heat, stirring often until golden brown. Set aside half. Put the other half inside a plastic sandwich bag and pound to crush and grind. You can also use a mortar & pestle, food processor or coffee grinder to do this job.

Now, saute minced garlic and chopped leeks with olive oil in medium low heat until leeks are soft and translucent. Add in the ground almonds, wine and stock. Turn up heat to high and let boil, uncovered. Reduce liquid to half its original amount, about 15 minutes more or less. At this point, the liquid will thicken a little. Whisk in the butter, mustard, 2 tbs cilantro and the juice of half a lemon. Salt & Pepper to taste.

Add in some of the reduction sauce to the spaghetti just enough to coat every strand. Add in meat and veggies, combine and transfer to a plate. Pour some more sauce on top, if desired. Garnish with the remaining almond slices, cilantro and squeeze the juice of the other half of the lemon. If you have French fried onions, you can add some on top for extra crunch.