Ingredients
- 1 lb. Penne
- 4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Salt And Pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp. Butter
- 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
- 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
- 3/4 c. Dry White Wine
- 3/4 c. Low-sodium Broth, More If Needed
- 1 bag Baby Spinach
- 2 c. Grape Tomatoes, Halved Lengthwise
- 4 oz. weight Parmesan Cheese, Shaved With Vegetable Peeler
Directions
- Cook pasta according to package directions in lightly salted water. Drain and set aside.
Cut chicken breasts into chunks and sprinkle on salt and pepper.
Heat butter and olive oil over high heat in a large skillet. Add chicken chunks in a single layer and do not stir for a minute or two in order to allow the chicken to brown on the first side. Turn the chicken and brown on the other side. Cook until done, then remove chicken from the skillet.
Turn heat to medium. Add garlic and quickly stir to avoid burning. After about 30 seconds, pour in wine and broth, stirring to deglaze the pan. Allow the liquid to bubble up, then continue cooking until it's reduced by at least half (most of the surface of the liquid should be bubbling at this point.)
Turn off the heat. Add spinach, tomatoes, chicken, and cooked pasta to the skillet. Toss to combine; the spinach will wilt as you toss everything. Add plenty of Parmesan shavings and toss to combine.
Serve with extra Parmesan shavings.
I made this for a late lunch Saturday, and it absolutely completed me. It also absolutely completed my fourteen-year-old daughter, whose love of pasta is surpassed only by that of her mother, otherwise known as me. She and I took turns filling our little bowls and wolfing down helpings of the spinach-and-tomato packed pasta deliciousness, our contentment level increasing with each cylinder of penne.
It was a mother-daughter pasta moment, is what I’m saying. And it was beautiful.
I can sure talk something to death, can’t I?
Never mind. Don’t answer that. Let’s just move on to the pasta, and I would like to point out that for the purposes of this post and the rest of the cooking posts I’ll post this week, when I cooked on Saturday I decided to—brace yourself—move my dining table to another window in order to avail myself of some different light than I’m used to using. So if the photos look a little different, furniture rearranging is the reason. If you’re a weirdo like me and like to take photos of the food you cook and eat, try moving to a totally different spot sometime!
If you’re not and if you don’t, just skip forward to the “make this pasta dish as soon as humanly possible’ part.
In fact, let’s just do that right now.
INGREDIENTS YOU NEED
penne
boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
butter
olive oil
garlic
white wine
low-sodium chicken broth
baby spinach
grape tomatoes
Parmesan
EQUIPMENT YOU NEED
pasta pot (or any large pot for boiling pasta)
collander
knife
large skillet
cooking spoon or tongs
vegetable peeler
HOW TO MAKE IT
Cut up the chicken into chunks—large or small, depending on your preference. Or depending on your family’s preference. Or your Orkin man’s preference. Depends on who you’re cooking for.
Salt and pepper the chicken…
Throw the chicken chunks into a large skillet with butter and olive oil over really high heat.
Spread it into a single layer and let it sit for a minute or two, undisturbed, while it gets nice and brown on one side.
Turn the chicken to the other side and keep cooking it until it’s really brown and done in the middle.
Remove the chicken to a plate and set it aside for a bit.
Turn down the heat to medium, then throw in the garlic and stir it around quickly to keep it from burning.
Then pour in white wine…
And chicken broth.
(Note: If you don’t use alcohol in your cooking, you can use double the amount of broth and just leave out the wine altogether.)
Then stir it all around, scraping the bottom of the pan. Then just let the liquid cook and bubble up for a good 3-4 minutes. You want the liquid to reduce by at least half and get nice and rich…without disappearing! This is what’s going to ultimately coat and moisten the pasta, so don’t let it go completely away. (Incidentally, if that happens just splash in a little more broth as needed. Amen.)
While the sauce is reducing, sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the halved grape tomatoes.
And why are grape tomatoes so darn delicious? They complete me.
Now comes the fun part! When the liquid’s nice and reduced, turn off the heat and throw in the spinach…
The tomatoes…
The chicken (and any juice that might be on the plate)…
And the cooked, drained pasta.
Immediately begin tossing the pasta—the spinach will wilt as you do, and this is what I love about this pasta: you don’t even have to cook the spinach and tomatoes. They just heat up/wilt as you toss them with the hot pasta.
Poifect!
And…yum. My soul rejoices.
Next, throw in a bunch of Parmesan shavings…
And toss them around as they melt and become part of the whole mix.
Immediately pour it into a big serving bowl.
Then stand back, admire your handiwork, and get really excited about the carb rush you’re about to experience.
But there’s spinach in there, too. And spinach has been known to eradicate the detrimental effects of carbs.
Not really. But wouldn’t that be nice?
Then top with plenty of Parmesan shavings! (Basil would be lovely, too—I just didn’t have any.)
Then, this is the most important part: Dig in. Dig in with all your might.
You’ll be so glad you did.
Enjoy!
