Pasta with chicken, red pepper and goat cheese

 

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.

 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.My 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.

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

                                                                  

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.