Tuesday 18 June 2013

Grilled chicken alfredo tonight?




I am a firm believer in taking lunch to work from left overs. Sunday cooking is the best because you get at least two days of packed lunch. I'm such a left over lover, I will cook during the week after work, just so I have a packed lunch for the morning.

So here I am driving home from work and wondering what on earth can I whip up in a short amount of time, that’s relatively healthy and definitely delicious. We had some left over barefoot moscato so that’s a sure ingredient, also some chicken breast and veggies which are always stocked.  So I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a wedge of Parmesan cheese, a box of pasta, heavy cream and home I went.

What I made was grilled chicken and whole wheat penne in a light white wine cream sauce  added some carrots and red and green pepper for added flavor and color.

It turned out beautifully 


(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients
 
1lb chicken breast tenderloin
1 box whole wheat penne pasta (If you want your pasta more saucy use 3/4 of the box)
2 tbsp. salted butter
1 small onion chopped
5 cloves garlic shredded
2 cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream
1.5 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp. black pepper
½ red pepper
½ green pepper
1 carrot


                                                       Chicken breast seasoning 


2 tbsp. Soy sauce
½ tsp. Black pepper
1 tsp.  Salt
1 tsp. Sugar
1tbs Pimento (all spice)
1 tbsp. Olive oil




                                          Instructions

1. Get a pot of salted water boiling and cook your pasta according to the instructions
2. Season the chicken and cook them on the grill. About 2-3 mins per side. After grilling roughly chop the chicken and set aside.
4. Chop onions, shred garlic, and slice the peppers and carrots.
5. Strain the cooked pasta in a colander and run cold water over the pasta to stop the cooking process
6. Place a deep pot on the stove and melt the butter, Saute onions for 2 min and follow with  garlic. lower the heat
8. After a minute add wine, cream, parmesan, salt, cayenne, black pepper and allow to simmer
9. Cook the sauce until it thickens and reduces by half (about 10 minutes on my stove)
10, Add in the chicken, peppers and carrots. Toss till they are all coated.
11. Add in the penne and toss the whole mixture together
12. Cover for 2 minutes,  then turn off heat and it’s done 

Greedy tip: 

1. When the sauce reduces by half and is a thick consistency similar to melted ice cream its ready. You might think its still too much liquid, but remember the chicken, carrots, peppers and pasta are going to absorb it all. So don't reduce it too much.   

2. I consider this a light sauce because there is more wine than cream. If you wanted a heavier richer sauce you could do 2 cups cream to 1 cup wine. This would thicken much faster.



Sauce reduced by 1/2





Trust me…..It’s really delicious, the wine and parmesan cheese really dominate flavor wise, the carrots and peppers add a nice crunch with the smoky grilled chicken pieces in each bite….yes papa…can’t wait for lunch tomorrow

Xoxo Greedygirl