There are about three meals that can instantly take me back to my childhood. This is one of them.

It’s also one of the first meals I taught myself to make.

I took the original recipe with me to college and cooked it for many a people.

I cooked it for the hubs when we were first dating, living together and married.

It’s gone through a few iterations, but they’ve only enhanced the original, replacing canned ingredients with fresh, cooking sherry with actual booze, and changing up the cheese.

Still tastes the same to me. And brings me home again, every single time.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked, chopped, chicken breast (you can cook your own or use a store-bought rotisserie)

2 Tbsp evoo

2 cups of sliced mushrooms, crimini or a mix of crimini and shiitake

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

1 cup chicken bone broth

1 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp drinkable sherry

1/2 package of bucatini, cooked and drained

1 cup shredded jack cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook noodles according to package. Drain and set aside.

In a saucepan bring evoo to slightly simmer over medium heat. Add mushrooms. Stir to coat with oil. Keep stirring until mushrooms release their liquid and are softened.

Turn heat down and remove mushrooms, leaving oil and any liquid in the pan.

Add butter. Turn heat up to medium high. When butter has melted, whisk in flour, salt, and pepper, stirring continuously, to prevent burning and to burn out flour.

When flour mixture and butter are thoroughly combined, continue stirring until a slight shift in color occurs (it will deepen). You don’t want it dark, just enough change to notice.

Alternating additions, add a little bit of broth, then cream, at a time, and whisk until fully combined until adding another amount of liquid.

Once all liquid has been absorbed, stir in bucatini, chicken, and sherry. Stir to combine and transfer to a buttered 2 quart casserole dish.

Top with shredded cheese.

Bake in oven until cheese has melted, is bubbly and slightly golden brown (30ish minutes).