Carmelized Onion and Fennel Pasta

When I saw this recipe on Rachel Ray's Week in a Day I knew it was right up the Little Mouth's Alley.  It was pasta in what looked to be a regular cream sauce, but it was pureed onions and fennel, both of which I love. So we tried it with mixed results.

First of all, the recipe was billed as a fix ahead meal, so I can't blame the consistency on refrigerating it for two days before we ate it. The key to this recipe, is getting the onions and fennel very, very, very cooked.  I cooked them for maybe an hour and I thought they were as done as they could get.  However, when I put them in my food processor to puree, it ended up kind or like a soupy mess that tended to separate.  Even so, the flavor was good, so I added the chicken and thought maybe it would be better when I warmed it up.

Not so much.  I warmed it though and in that process, the very tender chicken left over from the stock pretty much disintegrated.  So now I had a really disgusting looking sauce. But it still tasted good. 

So I whipped up a very fast Alfredo sauce, using only two tablespoons of butter and calculating the rest of the ingredients accordingly.  I stirred the whole mess together and...it was GREAT.

The flavor was spot on. It had a lovely sweetness from the fennel and onions. I would have preferred the chicken be in chunks instead of just an explosion in the sauce, but it was good.  Best of all, the Little Mouths LOVED it. Picky Icky Little Mouth had seconds. Imagine that.

1 Large Yellow Onion
1 Blub Fennel
1 teaspoon Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
1-2 cups chicken stock (Depending on Consistency)
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 cup Fat Free Half and Half
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1 cup diced chicken

Thinly slice onions and fennel and saute over low to medium heat until very, very tender. Throw he whole mess in the food processor and puree, then return to the saute pan.  Stir in the Alfredo, chicken and pasta.

Huge thumbs up from Big Mama and Little Mouths.  Picky Icky Little Mouth had seconds!

Sorry no photo, some kind of photography malfunction!