Chicken Tetrazzini

The introduction to the recipe makes note of canned tomatoes -- and the picture certainly shows a tomato consistency. But there is no mention of tomatoes in the Ingredients list. Am I missing something?

Tomato sauce? Jalapenos? It's a nice dish, but a Tetrazzini it's not. You should give it the dignity of its own name. Anyone who knows a Tetrazzini will be disappointed. Anyone who likes this and tries to order Tetrazzini in a restaurant will be disappointed. It needs a different name.

Re rinsing cooked spaghetti? Usually recommended that cooked pasta not be rinsed. Why rinse?

Bears no resemblance to the luscious tetrazzini of the, say, 60's. That requires a veloute sauce brightened with lemon or white wine; juicy bits of roast chicken or turkey, and spaghettini or tagliarini. Saute 8 oz of mushrooms, a shallot, grated nutmeg and a dash of dry vermouth. Mix with sour cream. Put the chicken mix in a round baking dish leaving room in the center for the mushroom mix. Top with buttered breadcrumbs and grated parmesan or gruyere. Bake until topping is browned.

Made it & didn't care for it at all. Probably won't eat what was left after dinner.

Texture was a jumble, like a leftover mishmash. Flavor was earthy but unremarkable and indistinctive. Even the look was unappealing - was embarrassed just serving the family.

Guajillo chilies were hard to find, even in Manhattan. 2 oz porcini was $7 at Whole Foods. Preptime was 2 hours for two active cooks - way more than expected.

Most disappointed of any NYT recipe I've made.

Never made this recipe, but rinsing and COOLING the pasta keeps it from overcooking in the oven while the casserole finishes. You normally do not want to wash off the exterior starch so the sauce will cling to the pasta, but with this particular sauce in a casserole....no problem.

Nope, no tomatoes. The cheese and softened peppers turn the milk and stock a pretty color that resembles the red of tomatoes. But there are no tomatoes in this recipe.

Chiles, mushrooms (porcini), cheese, pasta, rotisserie chicken - all baked into goodness: this is seriously straight up, down home comfort food! If Sam Sifton says rinse the pasta, I will take his word for his because he did the hard work of refining this into the wonderful recipe that it is. Made it as is and it is great. And since leftover baked pasta is at room temp is a guilty pleasure carried on from a lasagne-filled childhood, this one really is all good. Make it as written.

I think you rinse the spaghetti to cool it down and keep it from overcooking before the casserole goes into the oven.

In step 3, are the dried peppers really placed in an empty pot on med-high heat? No oil or anything? They just cook in an empty pot for 5-7 minutes without burning?

Put dried chiles in medium pot over medium heat and cook until fragrant. Since this made no mention of cooking with oil, butter or even water, I put them in dry and they immediately burned over medium heat. Did the author of this recipe mean to include some agent that would have prevented burning of dried peppers. The only fragrance I got was a burned fragrance which I can taste in the sauce. Also only one oz on the porcini mushrooms?

The intro notes mention canned tomatoes & the photo shows the casserole with a definite red hue, yet recipe doesn't mention using any tomatoes. What makes it red - the dried chilis?

I just made this (with leftover Thanksgiving turkey) and it was delicious and elegant. Because I live in NM I have an abundance of our famous green chili, which I freeze and save for just such occasions. I substituted it for all the chili in the recipe and added red peppers for extra color and texture.

I made this last night, and it was a big hit! It's a sophisticated, complexly-flavored version of the "chicken spaghetti" I grew up on in Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi. Be sure to season well with salt and pepper when Sam calls for it. If your finished dish is bland, that might very well be the reason.

To all those naming names and stating "never rinse pasta" please take a closer look the recipe. You don't have to worry about any sauce sticking to the pasta because it's a baked casserole, not pasta tossed with sauce. As Lynn noted earlier, just make it as written and see what you get.