We Try it Wednesday - Chicken Bacon Alfredo.

It's WEDNESDAY! and that means the boy and I tackle another paleo recipe for our family, and give it a full review.
Today's Recipe is another from www.paleomg.com and is the Chicken Bacon Alfredo.

Now lets start with a mythical creature...called the Spaghetti Squash....I have read about this squash in so many paleo recipes, I've looked in EVERY fruit and veg section I've been in searching for it high and low, till finally John went to google, and searched some food forums, to find where we can find it in Sydney...we got a hit! Harris Farm Market...there was buttery yellow light at the end of the dark tunnel.

We went to the Rhodes location...they had shut it down!!!! I was pretty peeved to say the least, but never fear, John was on his android quicker than I could say 'fine lets go home then' and he had another location for Harris Farm about 10 mins from where we were...so we got in the car stuck the gps on and ended up in Stratfield. Walked in, then I realized I had no idea what this magical squash looked like in raw untouched form, so I asked one of the guys stacking fruit if they had any...and held my breath.

'umm..yep we do over here' and he pointed to a big pile of spaghetti squash *que victory music* so I grabbed a huge one! and yes it cost me a small fortune of $12...but thats because I picked one of the heaviest! So lets finally begin!

You will need for my version of this, which is very similar...I only subbed in grated zucchini for the Delicata Squash, because I had enough of a headache finding one squash let alone the other one!

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed
• 2 med zucchini grated.
• 1 large Chicken Breast.
• 4-6 slices bacon, diced
• ½ cup canned coconut milk (I added a touch more, as I wanted a good coating of sauce)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• salt and pepper, to taste
• splash of olive oil for cooking your chicken, and for coating the spaghetti squash before it hits the oven.
  
  
  preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
  
  1. I started by Cutting my gigantic squash, and when I mean me...I mean John, because I tried...and I didn't even make a dent! so if you have a man handy, save yourself the grunting and get him to cut it in half lengthwise!
  
   
  2. Scoop the seeds and the membrane out with a spoon or a fork, I am drying and saving the seeds to try and grown our own squash in spring. 
  
  
   
  
  
  
  3. I then put a touch of olive oil around the inside and some salt and pepper...I then put the squash cut side down on an aluminum foiled backing tray to reduce clean up. I baked the squash till I could pierce the skin with a fork with ease. (I started testing the skin after 30 mins randomly till I was happy)
  
  
  
  4. I sliced up my chicken into thin strips ready for the frying pan.
  
  
  
  The Original recipe calls for baking your chicken...last time I baked chicken in my oven, it dried it out, and I didn't want to take that chance again, so I cooked mine in a fry pan with a touch of oil, salt pepper and some dried basil. 
  
   
  
  
  5. Once your squash is finished cooking, get it out of the oven and use a fork to scrape out the flesh, do this lengthwise and you should get lovely long strands of 'spaghetti' Put this in a bowl to the side till you need it. 
  (note..let it cool so that the strands dont clump together too much, I learnt this the hard way!)
  
   
   
   6. Dice up your bacon and get it into a frying pan leave the rind on so it renders down and leaves an awesome grease. Use a fork to get your bacon out so the fat stays in the pan.
  
  
  7. Grate your two zucchinis then add them to the frying pan with the bacon grease. Then add your coconut milk, like I said at the beginning I used a bit more as I wanted my whole meal to be nicely coated in the sauce. 
  
  
  
  
  
  8. Add the rest of the dried herbs and salt and pepper to your sauce, mix it all in really well, and let it simmer for 5 Mins. - this is where I added in my cooked chicken as well. 
  
   
  
   
  I got out a saucepan then mixed everything inside the saucepan, so everything got nicely coated..this may be a pain for some, as its extra cleaning, but John was on disher duty so I had no regrets! heheh.
  
  
  add to your bowls, then top with bacon.
  
   
  note...this dish does not look great, it doesnt photograph beautifully like last weeks pie! hehe.
  
  
  right...down to the review.
  Taste Rating - We give this dish a 7/10, both John and I enjoyed it, the teacup  humans didn't I decided next time I made this dish, I would add some a little chicken stock to the sauce.
  Budget Rating - We give this one a 6/10, it is much cheaper than the pie that's for sure, the squash put it up a touch but when I worked it out at half a squash per meal, with leftovers for lunch the rating went up. Using dried herbs instead of fresh is also great for family's on a budget so I commend paleomg for this step.
  Repeatability 7/10 we would cook this maybe twice a month, for just john and I, and that would be good for two meals for us, so once a fortnight this would make it onto the family menu. Spaghetti squash itself, will become a house staple I think, it is kinda tasteless, but bulks up a meal for us paleo eaters which I really enjoyed.
  
  
  Thanks for reading and I do hope you hunt down the magical squash, and try this dish out from www.paleomg.com
  
  
  I shall see you next Wednesday with some other crazy recipe for us to try! 
  x Courtney and John