Pappardelle? What is in a name? I did some checking and Wikipedia says this is a wide egg based pasta that derives it’s name from the Italian to “gobble up”! I have to agree with that on this one! I’ve predicted in the past that frozen meals will eventually rival good home cooked meals and this is one of them. For me to put together something this good at home would involved quite a bit of work, but it would be only a little bit better.
First off let’s see what we have here. This is a Pappardelle Pasta with Chicken in a Mushroom and Mascarpone sauce. Something Becky and I would snarf up on a weeknight meal, especially before kids came along. Make a side salad or some vegetables and you have a pretty darn good and quick meal!
There are two ways to make this, either you microwave it or you put it in the skillet. I probably should’ve nuked it but opted for the skillet method. The reason why is that I had the heat up a little too high and it started to stick to the skillet. I would opt for a non-stick skillet next time or microwave it.
As we’ve seen in some of these frozen pasta dishes before, the past comes in these neat little “nests” of pasta and the sauce is in these blobs and then there are chunks of chicken. I tossed it all in a skillet and started simmering it for the 8-10 minutes they called for. Unfortunately, I think I had the heat up a little too high and it started to stick to the pan so keep the heat down.
It smelled wonderful with a very prominent mushroom aroma (in a good way) and visually you could see big chunks of chicken and a nice cream sauce. The mushrooms fell apart a bit but I think it didn’t detracted from the overall appearance.
The sauce is what makes this dish so nice. It’s a rich, creamy mushroom sauce. The noodles were pretty good but with most of these frozen pasta dishes, they never turn out like you can make on your own. They were a little rubbery. Then the chicken pieces were hit or miss. Some were good and some were a little chewy but all had a great flavor.
All in all, I might buy this again because it was so easy to make and the flavors were spot on. I would be hard pressed to make this in under an hour with similar results!
I am going to rate this Pappardelle Pasta with Chicken in a Mushroom Mascarpone Sauce a solid 8 Bells!
Agreed! Very caloric, so a rare treat, but easy adn yummy!
I save most of the sauce discs for future use, because I prefer lightly-sauced noodles. This cuts down on calories and stretches the cost over several meals. Try a cooked/drained handful of the frozen spinach mixed in–it combines “creamed spinach” with “invisible vegetable flavor” thanks to this sauce being *so* flavorful!