ammogirl

I threw this together tonight for dinner.  It’s inspired by three things:  John’s love of arribiata pasta, the yum spicy pasta I had the other night at Prezzo’s in England, and my Ziploc steamer bags.  Which I totally love.  There is no actual measurements, so modify for your own servings.  This made three big bowls for John, Taylor and I, and they both gave me an A++.

2-frozen chicken  breasts (from those 5-lb bags) (leave them frozen)

2-8 oz cans tomato sauce

1-small can tomato paste

half-n-half

pine nuts

crumbled bacon

olive oil

chopped garlic

red pepper flakes

rosemary

italian seasoning–I have the McCormick’s kind that comes in a grinder

freshly ground sea salt

freshly ground pepper

any kind of pasta, cooked (i used penne, but really, any kind would do)

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While your waiting for the pasta water to boil, put the frozen chicken breasts in a large Ziploc steamer bag with red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, rosemary, and garlic, all to taste.  Put this in your microwave and cook; when it’s done cut it up in slices (or chunks, or…whatever).

When you put your pasta in the boiling water, put the tomato sauces and paste in a pot, and add a splash of half-n-half.  You just want to dilute it a little, but it’s not a creamy sauce–the dairy just gives it a richness.  Add however much crumbled bacon and pine nuts you want, a small splash (about 2 teaspoons, maybe) of olive oil, and let it simmer while everything else is cooking.  I added more red pepper flakes, but you don’t have to.   If the sauce needs to be thinned a little, you can either put in some of the pasta water (that’s what the Italian cooks do, I swear!) or the juice from the chicken bag (I did both). 

Everything should be cooked at around the same time.  Throw the chicken chunks in the sauce, let it simmer a minute or two while you’re draining the pasta, and then mix it all together.  

We like to eat our pasta in bowls, but you can serve it however you like.  The whole thing took me about 20 minutes, and it was fabulous!