A Toast to Fettuccine

DEAR SOS: I would love to have the recipe from Pizza Place in San Gabriel for their chicken tequila fettuccine. Can you help?

--DARIA

DEAR DARIA: What a nice dish to try, using shrimp, lobster, scallops or leftover turkey, as well as chicken.

TEQUILA CHICKEN FETTUCCINE

2 tablespoons oil

2 pounds chicken thighs or other dark meat, boned and diced

2 red onions, cut in thin strips

2 red bell peppers, cut in thin strips

2 yellow bell peppers, cut in thin strips

2 green bell peppers, cut in thin strips

1 jalapen~o chile, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

Tequila

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

Juice of 2 limes

Salt, pepper

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 1/2 pounds fettuccine

Few cilantro sprigs

Heat oil and add chicken, browning well. Add red onions, red, yellow and green peppers, jalapen~o chile and garlic. Saute 1 minute. Add 2 to 4 tablespoons tequila or to taste and chicken stock, and cook over high heat until liquid is almost absorbed and pan is glazed.

Add whipping cream and cook over medium-high heat about 7 to 8 minutes or until sauce thickens. Season with lime juice, salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped cilantro. Set aside.

Cook fettuccine in boiling salted water according to package directions and drain. To serve, top each plate of pasta with chicken-tequila sauce. Garnish with cilantro sprigs.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

849 calories; 340 mg sodium; 158 mg cholesterol; 42 grams fat; 81 grams carbohydrates; 31 grams protein; 0.77 gram fiber.

Belle of the Wedding

DEAR SOS: I’d love to bake the Pink Champagne Cake for my daughter’s wedding. Can you come up with this recipe? It appeared some years ago in The Times.

--FRANK

DEAR FRANK : What a wonderfully old-fashioned cake to wed by, and what a generous parent you are to bake it. It’s a challenge, but have fun.

PINK CHAMPAGNE CAKE

CAKE

2 3/4 cups sifted flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup Champagne

6 egg whites

Sift flour again with baking powder and salt. Cream shortening with 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in flour mixture and Champagne alternately, mixing until smooth.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Gradually beat in remaining 1/2 cup sugar, continuing to beat to stiff meringue. Fold about half of meringue into batter, mixing thoroughly with whisk. Gently fold in remaining meringue.

Turn into 2 greased and floured 9-inch layer cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool.

COCONUT FILLING

1/4 cup butter

16 large marshmallows, quartered

1 tablespoon white wine

1 cup flake coconut

While cake is baking, melt butter, marshmallows and wine in top of double boiler over boiling water. Remove from heat and stir in coconut. Cool until thick enough to spread.

FONDANT FROSTING

1 pound powdered sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Dash salt

Few drops almond extract

2 to 3 drops red food color, optional

6 large marshmallows, quartered

Sift powdered sugar into top of double boiler. Add corn syrup and water. Stir over boiling water until smooth. Blend in vanilla, salt and almond extract. Stir in food color. Keep frosting warm while using so it will spread smoothly.

When cake layers are cool, spread top of 1 with Coconut Filling and stack second on top. Spread 2/3 cup Fondant Frosting thinly and smoothly over top and sides of cake, sealing any crumbs. Pour about 1/2 cup additional frosting over top of cake and spread quickly to smooth. Cover sides of cake with remaining frosting. Dip marshmallow quarters in remaining frosting to coat both sides and set randomly over top and sides of cake.

Makes 1 (2-layer, 9-inch) cake or 10 to 12 servings.

Each serving contains about:

723 calories; 491 mg sodium; 13 mg cholesterol; 26 grams fat; 116 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 0.25 gram fiber.

It’s a Hobo’s Life

DEAR SOS: Would you please publish the recipe for Hobo Steak served at Chasen’s in Beverly Hills? I was given this recipe long ago but can’t find it since moving.

--JANICE

DEAR JANICE: Chasen’s is closed, but this recipe, developed by the late Dave Chasen, will undoubtedly live on. The steak is wrapped in fat and encrusted with salt to seal in moisture. Don’t worry. Both the salt and fat are discarded, and the meat is sliced and sauteed in butter (at the table at Chasen’s), leaving a tender, succulent and flavorful steak.

CHASEN’S HOBO STEAK

1 (10- to 12-ounce) New York steak, cut 3 inches thick

Freshly ground black pepper

1 (1/4-inch thick) strip fat, 3 inches wide, or several smaller pieces of fat

1 cup salt

2 tablespoons water

1/2 cup unsalted butter

Sourdough French bread, sliced 1/4 inch thick and toasted

Season steak with pepper. Wrap fat around sides of steak, covering them completely, but leaving top and bottom exposed. Tie fat to steak with string near top and also near bottom. Fat must be securely anchored to steak.

Make paste by stirring together salt and water. Mound about 3/4 of mixture over top of steak, covering meat completely. Place steak under broiler and broil 8 to 10 minutes, depending on size of steak.

Carefully remove salt crust, keeping it in 1 piece. Turn steak over and place salt crust on other side. If necessary, patch crust with remaining salt mixture. Broil steak another 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove steak from broiler and discard salt crust and fat. Slice meat, cutting slightly on diagonal. Heat butter in chafing dish or large skillet until foaming and lightly browned. Place few slices of meat at a time in butter and cook to desired degree of doneness. (Allow about 1 minute on each side for rare meat.) Place each slice of meat on slice of toast and spoon some hot butter over.

Makes 2 servings.

Each serving contains about:

415 calories; 863 mg sodium; 111 mg cholesterol; 23 grams fat; 19 grams carbohydrates; 30 grams protein; 0.07 gram fiber.