EVERYTHING BUT THAT!

This recipe was taken from America’s Test Kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3/4 pound), cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons grated zest and 3 tablespoons juice from 2 lemons
• 1 pound farfalle or penne
• 1 (6-ounce) bag baby spinach
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted (see note)

Directions:

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot.  Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.  Melt 1 tablespoon butter in skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook half of chicken until no longer pink, about 3 minutes; transfer to plate.  Repeat with remaining butter and chicken.
2. Add garlic to empty skillet and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in cream, lemon zest, and lemon juice and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and cover.
3. Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente.  Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water, and return to pot.  Add sauce, spinach, Parmesan, pine nuts, and browned chicken to pot and toss to combine, adding reserved pasta water as needed.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve.

America’s Test Kitchen Note: Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking pan until golden and fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Things I learned:

• I loved, loved, loved it!!
• I had a lot of fun toasting the pine nuts (where do they come?).
• I used a George Foreman type grill to brown the chicken, and thereby totally eliminated the butter and shaved off even more calories.
• Bland food is so boring, so I added more lemon juice and zest, even capers, more pepper and feta cheese.  I imagine sun-dried tomatoes would be great in this too.  There are lots of options!
• Also, I used whole wheat penne pasta.

Rating: 5

This was so easy and actually fun to make.  I think it is very versatile also.  After jazzing it up with more zest, I realized that perhaps a little butter or olive oil wouldn’t have hurt anything.  Still, it was good. 

Either I am getting better at this cooking thing, or this was the easiest recipe ever  

Coming up: Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla Pie