Whole Wheat Penne Pasta with Chicken and Veggies
I was hungry for something creamy and pasta-y with chicken and veggies, so I put “pasta with chicken and veggies” on the menu this week and made the recipe up on the fly. It turned out very nice.
Ingredients
Method
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Add olive oil to the boiling water before adding the pasta; this will prevent the pasta from sticking together. Drain.
- Heat olive oil in a frying pan over slightly above medium heat. Salt and pepper the chicken breasts. Place them in the pan, flesh side down. Cover with sliced onions and garlic, keeping them on the breasts and not in the oil (they’ll cook too fast otherwise). Cover the pan so that the steam will trap the flavors of the onion and garlic.
- After 5 to 7 minutes, turn the chicken and allow the onions and garlic into the oil. After 5 minutes, turn the chicken again so that the flesh of the chicken is cooking on a bed of onion and garlic. The skin will get crisp, and all of the yummy fat works out of the skin into the pan.
- Remove the chicken and the beautifully caramelized onions from the pan.
- In the fat that’s left in the pan, sprinkle flour and whisk until smooth.
- While whisking, add the milk (you’re making a gravy here). Add 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper.
- Bring to a boil. The sauce will thicken as it boils. Boil for one minute.
- Add the carrots and stir. With the heat on medium-low, put the lid on and let them cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add the peppers and peas and put the lid on the pan.
- While the veggies are cooking, remove the chicken from the bone and chop into bite-sized pieces. Add to the pan and mix well.
- Add to the pasta and mix well. If it is too thick, you can add a little bit of milk at a time until it is the consistency you want.
- Serve and enjoy. I served it with homemade French bread and a green salad.
Nutrition
Notes
The peppers are really what “made” this dish. Their flavor was perfect with the gravy and the chicken.
Some thinly sliced Parmesan cheese would have gone well with this dish, I think.
It was awesome the next day for lunch!
Good to know that we both like Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys. my first crushes was Scott Baio and Shaun…