Cajun Chicken Pasta

This is a wonderful Southern inspired dish that is sure to spice up the dinner table.


Cajun Chicken Pasta

Adapted from this recipe on ThePioneerWoman.com

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time:  15 minutes
Serves:  6


Ingredients:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
• 3 tsp. Cajun seasoning
• 1 lb. fettuccine or linguini
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1/2 large red onion, sliced
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 roma tomatoes, diced
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white wine (or chicken broth)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• cayenne pepper, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain.
2. Sprinkle 1 1/2 tsp. Cajun seasoning over the chicken pieces and toss to coat.  Heat 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. of olive oil in a skillet over high heat.  Add half the chicken pieces in a single layer (do not stir).  Cook for about 1 minute or until brown.  Flip and brown on the other side for an additional minute.  Remove and place on a clean plate.  Repeat with remaining chicken.  
3. With pan still on high heat, add remaining tbsp. of butter and olive oil.  Once heated, add peppers, onions, mushrooms and garlic.  Sprinkle with remaining Cajun seasoning.  Cook over very high heat, stirring gently for 1 minute.  Try to get the vegetables as brown as possible.  Add tomatoes and cook for 30 seconds.  Remove from the pan.
4. Pour the wine and chicken broth into the pan and cook on high heat for 3-5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze.  Reduce heat to medium-low and add in the cream, whisking constantly.  Cook for a few minutes, until mixture starts to thicken.  Season to taste with salt, pepper, and cayenne.   
5. Add chicken and vegetables to the sauce, including all the juices from the plate.  Stir and cook 1-2 minutes or until mixture is bubbly and hot. Add fettuccine or linguini and toss to combine.

Notes & Suggestions:

If you don't want to mess with cooking the chicken, you could use 3-4 cups of chicken from a store-bought rotisserie chicken.  Just season it with the Cajun seasoning and add it in at the end.

Personally, I thought a pound of pasta was too much, so next time I will just make 3/4 of a pound.

I had a problem getting my sauce to thicken up so I had to add some flour to it.  I also added more Cajun seasoning to spice it up some more.  I like my food spicy!  :)

Boiled Chicken

This is a great basic recipe for boiled chicken.  It's so easy because there's not much prep involved.  My grocery store has whole chickens on sale for $.77/lb. about once a month, so I stock up my freezer.  I use boiled chicken for all kinds of casseroles and dishes, and as a bonus, I get several cups of chicken stock that I freeze for later use.


Boiled Chicken

Adapted from this recipe on Allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time:  1 hour 30 minutes
Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 1 (3 pound) whole chicken
• 1 large onion, halved
• 3 carrots, cut into chunks 
• 2 stalks of celery, cut into chunks
• 2 whole cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. whole peppercorns

Directions:

1. Remove any giblets from inside the chicken.  Rinse the whole chicken well.
2. Place chicken in a large pot along with the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, salt and peppercorns.  Add water to cover.  
3. Cover pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a gentle boil and cook for about 1 1/2 hours, or until meat is falling off the bone.  
4. Remove chicken, cool and remove meat from the bone. 
5. If desired, strain broth, cool and freeze for later use.

Notes & Suggestions:

Usually the chickens I buy are 4-5 lbs. so I just add 1 extra carrot, celery stalk and clove of garlic, along with an extra 1/2 tbsp. salt.   

This recipe also works well if you just want to boil chicken breasts or thighs and not a whole chicken.  

A hint - to ensure your chicken stays juicy and doesn't dry out, cool it in the broth before picking the meat off the bones.  

I usually measure out the chicken broth in 1 cup portions and then freeze either in small containers or Ziplocs. Then whenever a recipe calls for chicken broth, I defrost whatever I need.  It has so much more flavor than the box stuff.  

Tip: A Cool Way to Separate An Egg Yoke

Not only would this be handy in the kitchen, it also looks like it would be a great party trick.  :)