Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Olive Garden Chicken Scampi


If I could eat at Olive Garden every night, I would in a heartbeat! Unfortunately, having two little ones has made it a bit more challenging to eat out--both from a financial standpoint and based on the fact that it's not overly enjoyable to dine out when dealing with kids who don't want to sit still for more than five minutes! While I was home visiting my parents last month, I took advantage of looking through some of the HUNDREDS of cookbooks that my Mom owns. I came across this "Top Secret Restaurant Recipe" cookbook and sat drooling as I imagined just how wonderful it would be to recreate some of my restaurant favorites at home! (Especially for a fraction of what I'd pay to eat the dishes out!) While I've never had Olive Garden's Chicken Scampi and therefore, have no basis of comparison, I can tell you that this dish was as good as any I had ever eaten at Olive Garden! It was a bit time consuming, but well worth it! Just a couple of suggestions: You may want to 1 1/2 the sauce and consider adding fresh mushrooms--my husband would never agree to the mushrooms, but if your family likes them, I think they'd be a nice addition.


Olive Garden Chicken Scampi

Scampi Sauce

3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons minced white onion
1/3 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
1 1/2 cups Chablis wine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley
1 cup heavy cream

5 to 6 quarts water
16 ounces angel hair pasta
4 tablespoons olive oil
12 chicken tenderloins
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 green bell pepper, cut into bite-sized strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into bite-sized strips
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into bite-sized strips
1 chopped red onion
2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley

*Optional Garnish: Parmesan cheese*

Directions:

Make scampi sauce by melting butter in a preheated pan over medium/low heat. Add 2 tablespoons minced white onion and saute for 2 to 4 minutes or until the onion begins to brown. If the butter begins to burn, turn down the heat. When the onion is beginning to brown, add the minced garlic and saute for another 30 seconds. Don't let the garlic burn. After about 30 seconds, add the wine, salt, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes and black pepper and bring mixture to a simmer. Simmer for approximately 15 to 18 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by half. Add parsley and heavy cream and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Do not let mixture reach a boil.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add the angel hair pasta and cook for about 4 minutes or until pasta is al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander when done, then hit it with some cold water to prevent sticking and to keep it from cooking further.

Preheat oil in 2 large skillets over medium heat. Lightly salt and pepper the chicken tenderloins, then coat each one in the flour that has been measured into a large bowl. Arrange all of the coated tenderloins on a plate before sauteing 6 tenderloins in each pan. Cook the tenderloins for 3 to 5 minutes on one side or until golden brown. When the chicken is brown on one side, flip each of the pieces and move them to the side of the pans. Add an even amount of sliced peppers and chopped red onion to the center of each skillet. Continue cooking the chicken and vegetables for 4 to 6 minutes or until the chicken is browned and the veggies are beginning to brown on the edges.

Divide the scampi sauce in half and pour it over the chicken and other ingredients in each pan. Add 2 portions of pasta to each pan, then toss everything a bit and continue to cook for a couple of minutes or until the pasta is heated through. Prepare each dish by serving equal amounts of pasta onto each of four plates. Use a spoon or tongs to add the peppers and onion on top of each pile of pasta. Arrange three chicken tenderloins in the center of the pasta. Sprinkle each plate with about 1/2 teaspoon of fresh parsley and serve it up with freshly grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2, by Todd Wilbur

7 comments:

  1. Wowza, this looks great! I'm starving, I wish I had some of that!

    Truly,

    Jenifer

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  2. If you lived closer, I'd offer you some...it made a TON! :)

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  3. This looks really yummy!!!! We had one of Todd's books while living in England!!! Talk about a lifesaver!!! Loved his Chick-fil-A sandwiches and Little Caesar's Crazy Bread and Crazy Sauce copy-cat recipes. It really brought me back home, if it was only in my memories!!!

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  4. I'll have to pass this recipe on to my mother. She loves The Olive Garden and always wants to recreate dishes but she can't quite figure out what in any of the dishes enough to make them.

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  5. That looks so darn yummy!

    I have that cookbook too, and I love it!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday, and drooling over my Reese’s Trifle!

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  6. This looks so yummy. I love the salad and breadsticks from the Olive Garden the most. I actually have one of those cookbooks, but have only tried one recipe from it for chicken fried steaks. All the recipes seem a little time consuming and I always lack on time with the 3 little ones running around. You should be receiving your book in the mail any day. Tell me when you get it so I know it got there ok.

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  7. Hello! I was googling scampi and came across your recipe. This is what I am making tonight from another book (the scampi) but I copied yours to try later! I love your page design too.

    Tina

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