Wednesday, May 4, 2011

What I'm Cooking: Simple Pasta Dish!

Sometimes simplicity is all you need to whip up the perfect meal.  I work long hours so when I get home late, I'm exhausted and tend to grab at whatever is lingering in the fridge.  I don't want laziness to overcome healthy living so I had to muster up the strength to make dinner.  I had a package of boneless, skinless chicken that I'd been contemplating what to do with for days.  In the fridge, I had some zuccini, yellow squash, fresh garlic, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms.  Perfect! The meal was finally starting to come together in my head.

  • I started by boiling a pot of water for whole wheat penne pasta.  I added just a sprinkle of salt which will inturn season the noodles (this is to mimic the salty sea water that true Italians have been using for centuries). 

  • In a skillet, I lightly glaze the bottom with EVOO and bring to a medium-high heat.  The chicken was cut into bite size slices and tossed with Montreal Steak Seasoning.  I cooked the chicken just perfectly and then set it aside on a plate. 
  • I returned the same skillet to the stove top and poured a generous splash of sherry (approximately 1/4 cup) which sizzled and coated the bottom and helped to scrape up the browned bits.  I then threw in my veggies and seasoned with crushed red pepper, reduced the heat to medium and covered to let all the ingredients steam while cooking.  At this time, I also reduced the temp of the pasta cooking on the other burner.  It only took about 5 mins for the veggies to turn tender. 
  • I had a little bit of store-bought spaghetti sauce that I poured in just to enhance flavor and thicken.  I returned the chicken to the skillet with mixed with it with all the other ingredients.  
  • Finally, I drained the pasta and mixed it with the chicken and veggies and then sprinkled with a pinch of finely shredded italian cheese.  Magnifico!! Ciao!! 

No comments:

Post a Comment