Thursday, February 10, 2011

Pasta with chicken, red pepper and goat cheese

ss 174

 

My sister keeps a running list of foods I despise and those I adore obsess over.

The former includes such things as:

Rosemary

Raisins

Olives

Rye bread with caraway seeds

(Most) Mushrooms

Any kind of melon

Lemon Pits in my Diet Coke.   Seriously.  I have a really difficult time drinking a Diet Coke if there is an errant lemon pit swimming around in there.

The latter includes most of the things in the title of this post. 

Last night I walked home from work and made a detour to Trader Joe’s because in NYC there is no place else that you can get Dubliner cheese, goat cheese, a dozen eggs, a pack of English muffins, a bag of frozen mixed veggies, baby spinach, a bag of potatoes, an onion, a quart of milk and a tub of sour cream plus a Valentine’s surprise for a little over $20.00.

Things you will need to make this:

1/4 cup diced roasted chicken (you could definitely use rotisserie chicken for this)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1/4 cup sliced red bell pepper

1/4 cup sliced sweet onion

1 cup fresh baby spinach

a pinch of crushed red pepper

1 oz goat cheese (you could use about 2 tablespoons of crumbles if you have them)

1 cup cooked whole wheat pasta (I used TJ’s whole wheat penne) cooked to package directions – reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water

S&P to taste

Upon arriving home I put a chicken breast in the oven to roast.

This is a skin on, bone in chicken breast.  I drizzled it with olive oil salt and lemon pepper and some sliced onions and garlic.  I roasted it for nearly an hour (covered in foil) at 375, turning up the heat to closer to 400 for the last 15 min.   I used about a quarter of this breast in the pasta.

ss 173 I added a little olive oil to a pan and sauteed some onion and peppers.  This was tossed in the pasta with the baby spinach and goat cheese.ss 168ss 169ss 170My cute ceramic nesting measuring cups from Anthropologie include a measure for a pinch.  I guess you could say I used about a quarter of a pinch here.ss 171

Sidenote:  It doesn’t look like they have them anymore :(  Here is what they look like.

                                                               ss 177ss 178   

Sidenote #2:  Going to the website was a mistake.  Now I am obsessed with having these…and one of these…and maybe these too.  And STOP IT with this apron.

I drained the pasta, put it back in the empty pot and added the veggies, spice and about 3/4 of the goat cheese over very low heat to get things all melty.  I added the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce out a little.   I crumbled the remaining goat cheese on top and added a crank or two of pepper.

The result was a simple, filling, slightly tangy, mildly spicy, creamy dish.  I wish I had some left over.ss 175

3 comments:

  1. Wow, those nesting measures are so nifty!

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  2. I was torn between these and the ones that look like flowers. My sister bought them for me and determined the nesting ones would fit better in my kitchen. She was right! Plus they look cute next to the cheese grater I have that looks like a doll.

    Yeah. I have a cheese grater that looks like a doll. :)

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  3. PS: A word of warning - there is a down side. They are pretty delicate - so I don't use them much for baking as I tend to bang stuff around in the process.

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