Trebbiano d'Abruzzo and Cajun Chicken Pasta Alfredo (Slow Cooker)

This wine adventure was inspired by a bottle of Cantina Tollo Terre Degli Eremi Trebbiano d'Abruzzo 2018 that was gifted to me by a beautiful woman from Italy. I have never had a Trebbiano wine before. I wanted to ensure that when I did finally open this wine that I do it justice by serving it with a suitable meal. After all, any bottle of wine that is given as a gift is special and deserves proper appreciation.

I attempted to do research on the Cantina Tollo winery and their Trebbiano d'Abruzzo wine. I found little information. The wine is not available from any of my sources. I did find what I believed to be the Cantina Tollo Winery website in Italy, but none of the wines they offer look like the one I have in my possession. It is possible, if this wine is sold in the US, that they create different labels just for US sales. Either way, I do not want to use that information as my research unless I am 100% sure I have the correct winery.

With that being said, I can only provide the next best thing… that is information on the wine varietal itself, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo. I have had red wine from the Abruzzo region, a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. However, I never had white wine from this region. The Abruzzo region is considered Southern Italy by people but can be geographically argued to be part of Central Italy. To the East, Abruzzo is bordered by the Adriatic Sea. Here, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo wine is produced in large quantities. This wine is described as dry with fruity notes and a touch of almond characteristics and is usually paired with seafood dishes. I found the wine to be a gorgeous, deep golden hue with aroma characteristics of wet slate and bruised apple and fruit. To taste, the wine was dry but with a slightly fruity flavor, like apple, while also being impeccably balanced with invigorating acidity.

Though it is recommended this wine be paired with seafood dishes, my family had other plans. They requested one of their favorite dishes, Slow Cooker Cajun Chicken Pasta Alfredo. Since I never had Trebbiano d'Abruzzo prior to this, I had no idea if the wine would pair nicely or not. I decided to give it a try. What is the worst that can happen? I am certainly not going to dump out a bottle of wine if it clashes with my meal. If it did not work out, I could always finish the wine AFTER my meal. (Of course, I was already drinking the wine BEFORE the meal.)

The result of the Trebbiano d'Abruzzo wine with my Slow Cooker Cajun Chicken Pasta Alfredo? Though a slightly sweeter wine, such as a Moscato, would be an exceptional wine to pair with the meal, the Trebbiano d'Abruzzo pairing was not bad at all.

Enough about the wine. Now about the food! I originally found this recipe on a site called "Get In My Belly". I had made it several times and even made my own updates to the recipe. However, I went to refer back to this website to make it again, and the link was no longer valid. I did find a different short video on how to make this, however much of the details were missing including my personal notes of the changes I made.

Lesson learned! Don't get a false sense of security that recipe website will always be there! I decided to make the Slow Cooker Chicken Pasta Alfredo based on the video and limp through trying to remember my changes I made. This time I would also document the steps as I prepared this meal!

Below are the results, along with my many mistakes I made along the way. I always feel that cooking isn't an exact science, unless of course you are baking. Everyone has different tastes and likes different things. For me, a recipe may evolve every time I make it until I perfect it. But at that point, I don't even measure anything. The recipe below is more of a "guideline" to follow. Feel free to make it your own! Cheers!

Slow Cooker Cajun Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, totaling at least 2 LBS (original recipe called for 3 breasts)

• 4 TSP Cajun Seasoning (Although I accidentally added 4 TBSP. It was still good but had more of a “kick”. Not too spicy either.)

• ½ TSP Lemon Pepper

• ¼ TSP Pepper

• ½ TSP Salt

• ½ TSP Dried Basil

• 4 TBSP Butter

• Fresh Parsley Chopped, or Dried Parsley (This was not part of the original recipe, but I love finding any excuse to use fresh herbs.)

• A few pinches of powered Chicken Bouillon. (This was not part of the original recipe, but I find it helps with flavor.)

• 1 or 2 Red Bell Pepper Chopped (original recipe called for 1)

• 1 or 2 Green Bell Pepper Chopped (original recipe called for 1)

• 2 Pints Heavy Cream

• ¼ TSP Garlic Powder (I mince up fresh garlic… a lot of it… an entire bulb of garlic)

• 16 oz Parmesan Cheese (This wasn’t an ingredient in the original recipe.)

• 16 oz penne pasta (original recipe called for 8 oz)

Instructions

Penne Pasta Instructions:

• Cook penne pasta separately and set aside (original recipe doesn’t cook the pasta first but I found that the pasta didn’t cook all the way through unless I cooked it prior to adding it)

• NOTE: Pasta can be prepared later, about 30 minutes before chicken is done.

Alfredo Mixture Instructions:

• Mix Heavy Cream, Parmesan Cheese and garlic in a separate bowl and set aside

The Rest:

1. Place chicken in the bottom of a slow cooker

2. Sprinkle the top of the chicken with the Cajun Seasoning, Lemon Pepper, Pepper, Salt, Dried Basil, Parsley Butter, Chicken Bouillon, Red Bell Peppers, Green Bell Peppers.

3. Pour Alfredo Mixture over top of chicken

4. Cook on high for 2 ½ hours

5. Shred chicken (I am not good at shredding chicken, so I remove the breasts and cut them up instead)

6. Add cooked penne pasta (original recipe states to add uncooked pasta but mine didn’t cook all the way through)

7. Can serve now or cook an additional 15 to 30 minutes, or at least until it’s the desired consistency

• OPTIONAL: After piling some on your plate, feel free to top with extra Parmesan Cheese.