Garlic Chicken and Pasta

(adapted from grouprecipes.com) – Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 oz. angel hair pasta
1 lb. chicken tenderloins, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 pint baby portabella mushrooms, washed and sliced
1/2 onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz. jar of marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1/2 cup cream
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
olive oil
shaved Parmesan cheese
fresh chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Prepare pasta as directed per box instructions.
In a skillet, heat to medium high. Drizzle olive oil on the pan. Add cubed chicken, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until nearly done, add onions, garlic and mushrooms. Cook until vegetables are tender.
Pushing the chicken and veggies to the sides of skillet, add flour and butter to middle and mix until it becomes a thick paste. Add chicken broth, one cup at a time, stirring to a boil. Add artichoke hearts, simmer and let sauce thicken. Turn heat off and add cream, mix thoroughly. Salt and pepper to taste.
To serve, top pasta with sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and garnish with parsley.

*if you want the sauce thicker, mix 1 Tbsp flour with 1 Tbsp chicken broth and pour into sauce and wait for it to thicken. Repeat until desired consistency.

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A couple of pics to give you an idea of how small to cut the ingredients.

Prepare pasta as directed per box instructions.

In a skillet, heat to medium high. Drizzle olive oil on the pan. Add cubed chicken, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook until nearly done

add onions, garlic and mushrooms. Cook until vegetables are tender.

Pushing the chicken and veggies to the sides of skillet, add flour and butter to middle

and mix until it becomes a thick paste.

Add chicken broth, one cup at a time, stirring to a boil.

Add artichoke hearts,

simmer and let sauce thicken.

Turn heat off and add cream,

mix thoroughly. Salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, top pasta with sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and garnish with parsley.

I wanted to make a pasta without tomato sauce for once, but with fresh tomatoes instead. I also wanted to try putting some fresh herbs in the sauce from our garden (yes, after 31 years I finally have a garden). I used rosemary, thyme and parsley. If you have a different favorite herb (basil, etc.) add that instead. This dish was mainly to showcase the tomatoes and herbs. I added the fresh tomatoes at the end of the process of making the sauce, after the heat was turned off, so the tomatoes were warm and fresh and not cooked completely.

Pasta with Clam Sauce (4 servings)

Ingredients:

2 medium tomatoes, cut into small chunks
3 large button mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp. butter
1 small can of clams (reserve the juices)
heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
4 servings of angel hair pasta, cooked and drained

Directions:

1) Chop the tomatoes, mushrooms, thyme, rosemary and parsley. Mince the garlic.

2) In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and butter on medium heat until butter is melted. Add garlic, thyme and rosemary and sauté for 1 minute.

3) Add mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms are tender. Add clam juice and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to low, add clams and a touch of heavy cream (I added approx. 3 Tbsp). Stir in tomatoes and turn off heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour on top of pasta, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

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Chop the tomatoes,

mushrooms,

thyme, rosemary and parsley.

Mince the garlic.

Notice that I finally have lots of natural light in my kitchen again? 2 years of living in apartments with florescent lighting and almost no windows in sunny San Diego sort of discouraged me from blogging.