FOODIE FRIDAY--Chicken Alfredo

I actually came up with this recipe while driving the kidlet to swim class. It had been a busy week with the hubster out-of-town and the kidlet had basketball camp, which means I hadn’t been to the store for a few days.  I also had various items that were on the verge of going funky and I needed to get rid of them. So as soon as I got home, and released the hound from captivity, I turned on the grill and started a pot of pasta water

And this turned out pretty AWESOME! Trust me, it was better than the food we had at Macaroni Grill for the hubster’s birthday.

For lack of a better name—and ya’ll are more than welcome to come up with one—I’m going to call this:

Chicken Alfredo

Rigatoni Pasta –mixed with Campanelle pasta since I didn’t have enough rigatoni for the dish—they had the same cooking time.

2 chicken breasts, deboned

McCormick’s Grill Mates Montreal Chicken seasoning

Tomato, seeded and diced

½ cup green peas, I used frozen, but partially cooked in microwave.

Mushrooms, dried, because I had some, handful

3 cloves of garlic, minced

½ stick butter

Half and half or heavy cream

Coarse ground Black pepper,@ ½ tsp.

Dash nutmeg

Fresh garlic chives, snipped @1 Tbls

Fresh Italian parsley, chopped @1 Tbls.

Mushrooms, dried, because I had some, handful

Grated Parmesan--oh, please DO NOT use the KRAFT kind in the green jar . . .  

For the most part, I had ingredients—I just winged it on the quantities.

Sprinkle both sides of chicken with Grill Mates seasoning and toss on hot grill. When salted water is boiling, drop in dried pasta. Stir once.

In another pan—I have a wok-type pan, melt butter. Add garlic, black pepper and nutmeg. Add cream. Simmer for about 5 minutes.  Flip chicken and cook until done @ 10 minutes total, slice chicken into strips. 

In cream sauce, add mushrooms, peas, tomatoes and sliced chicken. Toss. Sprinkle parmesan until thickened, but not too thick. Add pasta a little at a time in case you cooked too much. If too thick add pasta water to thin. Add chives and parsley prior to serving, toss and serve.

I would have served a salad, but didn’t have time to wash some lettuce—oops.

 Again, this is a recipe that you could easily toss in othe ingredients: chopped black olives, artichoke hearts, fresh spinach, or spice it up with a chopped jalepeno pepper. I don't do green peppers (or red or orange or yellow either), but they would work well in this.

Ooo . . . or how about toasted pine nuts? Or grilled onions? Or Hot Italian sausage instead of chicken?

See? Just about anything would work.

Enjoy!