Friday, February 5, 2010

Chicken Bowtie Pasta

I tried coming up with a more creative name than that, but I'm having trouble thinking of one :).  Anywho... sorry it has been so long since my last post!  I've been cooking, baking, taking pictures, and doing lots of eating, but I just haven't gotten around to sitting down to post.  I hope you can forgive me :).

This is a brand new recipe that I came up with alllll on my own last night for dinner :).  I was trying to come up with something fairly quick and easy to make for dinner and this is the result :).  I hope you like it!  It really didn't take long to whip up, so as long as you have all the ingredients, it shouldn't be bad at all.  Also, in case you didn't gather from the title, this is NOT a healthy meal... I mean really, it's pasta with cream sauce ;).  That being said, let's move on:

Start by frying up about 4 pieces of bacon until they're nice and crispy.  Like I said, not healthy :).  While this is cooking, cut up a couple of chicken breasts or about 1 pound of chicken tenderloins.


Set the bacon aside to cool and put the chicken in the pan with the bacon grease (like I said, not healthy, but very yummy) :).  Add a dash of Rosemary... cook on medium-high heat.


While the chicken is cooking, put about 2-3 cups (or a box) of bowtie pasta into boiling water.



Keep an eye on the chicken and once it's done, scoop it out of the pan (with a slotted spoon or spatula/turner/whateveryoucallit) and put it into a large serving bowl.  Leave the bacon grease in the pan.  Chop up the bacon and add to the bowl.


Using the same pan with the leftover bacon grease, sprinkle about 3 tablespoons of flour over medium heat and stir until it's smooth and bubbly.  Add about 1.5 cups of warm/hot milk and continue to stir, making sure everything is thoroughly mixed together.  Add a dash of parsley, oregano, salt, pepper, and parmesan.  Keep stirring until this sauce starts bubbling.  It will start to thicken quickly.  You can adjust all of the seasonings for flavor, but you'll probably end up adding more salt and pepper than the others... cream sauce just requires more salt or it will be very bland.


Once it starts bubbling and thickening slightly, add 1.5 cups of half and half or heavy cream.  Keep stirring, because this will thicken too.  Keep testing for flavor and make adjustments in the spices.  Once the sauce is nice and thick (think "alfredo sauce" thick), toss in about 2 cups of broccoli florets and stir them in so that they'll cook.


Cook them in the sauce (stirring occasionally) for about 4-5 minutes.  While you're waiting on the broccoli, test your bowtie pasta.  Depending on how you like it cooked (al dente or floppy), strain the pasta when it's done and throw it into the bowl with the chicken and bacon.

Once the broccoli is cooked, put the sauce mixture in the bowl with the pasta and meats.  Stir everything together and top with some parmesan.


Viola!  This turned out really really yummy.  It tastes almost like fettuccini alfredo, but the bacon adds a little bit of smoky flavor to it.  It has a lot of dimension, I guess :).  And it was quite filling!  As long as you have all of the ingredients on hand (I just had to buy bacon and half & half), it really doesn't take long to make.  I only used 1 pot and 1 pan to cook it and the bowl to serve it in.  From start to finish, I think it took me about 30 minutes to make.  And we ended up with some leftovers, which Jason and I were both grateful for :).

If you try this, please let me know how it turns out :).  Have a great weekend!