Simple Mushroom Parmesan Noodles with Chicken

Cook your mushrooms

Wash, dry, and slice mushrooms into fairly thick slices.  Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large fry pan over medium high heat. Add mushrooms and toss in the oil and try and get them into as single layer as possible. Let them sit undisturbed for 7ish minutes so they can brown. Flip and brown other side for another 5 minutes. Once the mushrooms are browned and looking less wet, season generously with salt and pepper. Cook until well browned and remove from heat (about 15 minutes total).

(salting mushrooms draws out water so if you salt at the beginning, you will waterlog them and they won't brown)

Cook your chicken

You can either use the same pan and do this step after the mushrooms OR use two pans and do them at the same time, depending on if you'd rather dirty two pans to have this done faster.

Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. In your pan over medium heat, with just a tiny splash of oil (about 1/2 tsp) layer in chicken and let cook for 10 minutes untouched. Once it is golden brown, flip and cook for another 5ish minutes until cooked through. Remove from pan.

Cook your sauce + noodles

Start your noodle water now. This will probably be the only time I ever tell you this but do NOT salt your noodle water as you need a lot of it for the sauce, and the sauce is already quite salty.

While your noodles are cooking start your sauce. To the pan you cooked your chicken in over medium high heat, add 1 tbsp butter and your garlic and cook just until butter melts (max 30 seconds). Add in 1/3 cup glutinous rice wine and cook for 1 minute until it's reduced. It should bubble aggressively. Add in 2 tsp sugar and 2 tbsp soy sauce and cook for another 30 seconds just to dissolve the sugar. If your noodles aren't ready yet, remove your pan from the heat until they are.

Once noodles are cooked, add to sauce with a generous scoop of pasta water (about 1/4 - 1/2 cup) and reserve another cup of pasta water. Mix well and add in 1 tbsp butter and 1/2 of your cheese. Stir well and mix in remaining cheese. Stir in mushrooms and remove from heat, adding more water as needed to keep the sauce somewhat loose.

Serve

Serve noodles topped with chicken thighs, fresh chives, more parmesan and fresh cracked pepper.