**Chicken & Mushroom Alfredo With Restaurant Alfredo Sauce

This is one of my favorite recipes of all time. It took me a couple of years to figure out just how to make the restaurant style alfredo sauce. Olive Garden had always been my favorite Italian restaurant until I went to Garozzo's in Kansas City. I didn't think it could get any better, but ohhhhhh it can. They had the thick, rich and creamy alfredo sauce like Olive Garden, but better. So I took my Olive Garden alfredo sauce recipe that took me so long to find out how to make and tweaked it a bit so it could taste a little more like Garozzo's. I found online that Garozzo's uses Asiago cheese rather than Parmigiano Reggiano cheese like Olive Garden. So here it is. It might take a couple of times to master, but once you do, everyone who eats your cookin' will love you for it!

First, warm up a medium size saucepan on medium low heat. Pour about 2 to 3 cups of heavy cream. You don't want to scald the cream, just warm it up. Let it warm up for about 10 minutes. Stirring every minute or so.

Next you will need to separate 3 eggs. We will be using the three egg yolks. Don't throw the whites away, you can use them for scrambled eggs in the morning or a dessert. Break up the egg yolks with a fork and beat them up until all are incorporated.

So you don't scramble the eggs (I've done this before, it's not fun) you will want to pour about a 1/4 of a cup of your warm heavy cream into your egg yolk mixture. Briskly whisk your eggs with your fork to warm the egg yolks up. This process warms the yolks up rather than just pouring the room temperature egg yolks straight into the hot cream and possibly scrambling them.

After about a minute of whisking the yolks and cream together, pour the cream/yolk mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the warm cream. Whisk briskly while you are pouring the mixture into the cream. You still want to make sure the eggs don't scramble. Add about a teaspoon of kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. You'll want to do several taste tests throughout this process. If it is kind of bland, add another pinch of salt until it's just how you like it! Throughout this whole process you'll want to continue to whisk the alfredo sauce.

Grab about 3 cloves of garlic, mince them up finely and add them to the sauce. If you have a garlic mincer, feel free to use it, I was just too lazy to clean the thing out. Whisking continuously. Then grate some fresh Parmigiano Reggiano or Asiago cheese. About 1 1/2 to 2 cups. Throw in the alfredo sauce and stir continuously. Turn the burner on medium low to medium heat, depending on how hot your stove cooks. You want to slowly heat the alfredo sauce up. Slowly heating the sauce up will allow the yolks to thicken the sauce rather than scrambling the eggs. You want to make sure and keep an eye on it and continue to whisk briskly every minute or so.

Mean while melt 2 tablespoons olive oil, and one tablespoon butter in large skillet on medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms, half a chopped onion, and several raw chicken strips or breasts into the skillet. Throw a couple of tablespoons fresh or dried parsley, oregano or basil, or all of them, and a couple of pinches of kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Cook the chicken until it is ALMOST done in the center, remove from skillet to cutting board.

Slice the chicken in strips and let rest for a few minutes until your pasta is cooked and your alfredo sauce is done. Then crank the heat up on your skillet to medium high heat and toss the chicken in with the mushrooms and onions until they finish cooking. It just takes a couple of minutes, there's nothing worse than dry chicken!

Cook whatever type of pasta you desire. Some people think that just because you are making alfredo sauce you have to use fettuccine noodles, not true. Experiment with different kinds of noodles, it's fun! The different shapes hold sauce differently. In this dish I used the Christmas shaped pasta I got at a specialty store in Kansas City. Sounds goofy, but if you notice all the ridges and holes in the pasta, this helps hold the sauce! Make sure you throw in about 3 tablespoons of salt into your pasta water before boiling. This is your only chance to flavor the pasta, do this EVERY time you cook pasta, even with macaroni and cheese. You'll all the sudden notice your dishes having that extra touch.

I'm a fan of eating saucy dishes out of bowls rather than plates, so I can corner the sauce and get every drip. This helps in making me not look like an idiot and chasing the noodles all around a plate and trying to mop up all the sauce. And it keeps your portions a little smaller!

Spoon some pasta in a bowl or on a plate, top with the chicken, mushroom and onion mixture and chop up some green onions to sprinkle on top. You'll love yourself for this one! And everyone else will love you too! AND you'll never by store bought alfredo sauce in a jar EVER again, I haven't.