Macaroni Grill's "Carmela's Chicken Rigatoni"

so this is Meredith's version of "Carmela's Chicken Rigatoni"....it's....ridiculous.

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion
• 2 chicken breasts
• package of basil (or just a good handful)
• rigatoni
• sherry/marsala/sweet white wine
• 1 package of mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thin (i used baby bellas because my commissary doesn't have cremini)
• 2 cloves chopped, minced garlic
  
• trader joe's 21 salute seasoning (i don't know what to tell you if you can't get to a trader joe's and get this stuff- i might marinade the chicken in olive oil, plenty of salt, pepper, and basil)
• parmesan cheese (1/4 to a 1/2 cup)

Instructions:

• caramelize the onion (slice the onions verrryyy thin. put them in a pan that is on medium high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. once the onions are transluscent, add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. then turn the heat down to low and stir the onions occasionally until they reach a beautiful, golden color and have shrunken A LOT. this will take anywhere from 20-40 minutes.)
• meanwhile, pound the chicken out very thin (i just recently bought a meat mallet to accomplish this however if you don't have one, you can 1) put the chickens between plastic wrap and smack them with big heavy cans of tomatoes, for example, OR you can put them in a bag and pound with a sautee pan.) after they are pounded thin, sprinkle on both sides with trader joe's 21 salute seasoning (just order the stuff online people. you need this in your life!)
  
• remove onions from pan onto a plate. in the same pan, add more olive oil to coat the pan and turn the heat back up to medium-high.
• once the oil is hot, add the chicken and sear on both sides (you should hear a "ssss" when the chicken hits the pan); probably 3-4 minutes per side
• once chicken is done, place it on a plate and let it rest for 15 minutes, then cube it.
• at this point, start boiling your water for your rigatoni. once the water comes to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt, then add your rigatoni. cook until al dente (it should have a bite to it- not completely soft)
• in the same pan that you have just removed your chicken from, add your mushrooms and garlic (pan should still be on medium-high). the pan might need some more oil at this point- add just a touch and move the mushrooms around and get them in one single layer in the pan. allow them to brown- stir them occasionally to get both sides browned.
  
• add about 1 tsp salt to the mushrooms as they cook.
• once mushrooms are browned, add your caramelized onions and cubed chicken. immediately add sherry, or whatever wine you're using. a couple of swigs around the pan should be good.
• let the sauce reduce and thicken, making sure to stir everything around and become incorporated
• take a measuring cup and save about 1 cup of pasta water before draining the pasta
• add some of the pasta water to the pan (maybe not the full cup- eyeball it. you want a nice sauce to absorb all that pasta- if you need to add a little more wine, do that too).
• add drained pasta to the pan and stir everything together, incorporating all ingredients
• grate parmesan over the pasta and stir to incorporate
• take the handful of fresh basil (don't even bother with the dried stuff) and tear lovingly over the pasta. use a lot. you can never go wrong with basil

tell your roommate, boyfriend, sister, brother, friend, husband, wife, whoever "TADA!!!" when you're done. It's delish.

**In the future we'll have pics for our posts- we're getting there, people.
**secondly, we are aware that some of our followers are new to cooking so we are trying to go into as much detail as possible to make these recipes accessible to all!