Dinner night: Whole wheat penne with chicken and asparagus

[azurelunatic]

I started off with this recipe, but made some modifications: doubling the chicken-and-asparagus to pasta ratio, with less salt, fresh pressed garlic only rather than powder (we didn't have any), whole wheat penne, using chicken thighs instead of breasts (it was half the price), and with a splash of white wine in with the asparagus.

Resulting recipe:
INGREDIENTS

* 1 (16 ounce) package dried whole wheat penne pasta
* a good solid pour of olive oil (a few tablespoons)
* 2 pounds of skinless, boneless chicken meat (thigh) cut into bite-sized pieces
* pepper to taste
* 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
* 2 bunches slender asparagus spears, trimmed, cut on diagonal into 1-inch pieces
* Fresh garlic to taste, pressed or thinly sliced (I used rather more than they originally recommended) or garlic powder if you don't have any fresh
* 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* Splash (no more than 1/2 cup) white wine

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and set aside.
Meanwhile:
2. Warm olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in chicken, and season with salt, pepper, and garlic. Cook until chicken is cooked through and browned, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove chicken to paper towels (for less fat) or another container (to retain juices).
3. Dump asparagus into skillet. Add chicken broth, wine, more pressed garlic, and pepper to taste. Ideally you can cover and steam until the asparagus is tender, but, failing that, keep all asparagus at least partially submerged, stirring occasionally so everything gets cooked. Return chicken to the skillet, and warm through.
4. Stir chicken mixture into pasta, and mix well. Let sit about 5 minutes. (If desired, dress with a little more olive oil; they say 2 tablespoons. I didn't.) Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, or serve with cheese grated on the side (in case someone can't have cheese).

Rave reviews means we'll have it again, I think. This served 6 with one or two servings of leftovers. (The extra 2 were because raranax had some friends over for a game.)

Comments

[lacey]

I fail at cooking, but I think I could manage that. It sounds too good not to try.

[azurelunatic]

Did your mom teach you the basics? If so, cooking is relatively easy. If not, get yourself a copy of The Joy of Cooking (any edition will do, used will do) and refer to it if in doubt.

When you have the basic principles down, you can really whack about a recipe almost all you want to. I enjoyed making this, and would have liked it more if I hadn't been operating under time pressure (we came back from walking the dogs and shopping rather laaate).

[lacey]

Oh yeah, she has. She's a good cook, actually. Mostly it's just that I'm impatient, though that isn't as true as it used to be. Good food is worth waiting for. I have been meaning to pick up a copy of that, though. Seems like I even had it in my Amazon cart at one time.

And food you enjoy making is the best of all. People eating it can usually tell.