Tuesday, April 15, 2014

cajun chicken pasta

Whenever I think of Cajun seasoning, I think of my friend, Yvonne. She makes a mean roast chicken marinated with Cajun spices.


Feeling very inspired by photos of Yvonne's roasts, I have been meaning to make something using Cajun spices for a while. Today I finally got my chance to do so. So I decided to make a pasta - The Pioneer Woman's Cajun Chicken Pasta.

To make this pasta, I fist seasoned the chicken with the Cajun spice. In addition, I sliced red and yellow peppers as well as an onion. Finally, I also minced some garlic.


That done, I browned the chicken in some olive oil in a Dutch oven. You can also use a skillet.

  

Once all the chicken had been browned, into the same Dutch oven, I added onions and garlic, peppers, the remaining Cajun seasoning and salt.


I did not have any tomatoes so I added canned tomatoes instead. On hindsight, I should have drained the tomatoes before I added them.
 

I transferred the contents of of Dutch oven into a bowl. Then I added white wine, and scraped all the bits of flavour that were stuck at the bottom on the pan. The chicken stock was then added, and this was left to simmer until reduced by about half.

Finally, I added the cream, and a little corn starch slurry to thicken. I added some black pepper to the sauce as well.


Both the chicken and the vegetables were returned to the Dutch oven and stirred to combine. I also added some Cayenne pepper at this stage.



The sauce was ladled over cooked pasta, topped with Parmesan and garnished with chopped Italian parsley and served immediately.


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RECIPE
Cajun Chicken Pasta (Serves 6-8)
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman"" by Ree Drummond

Ingredients:
3 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed - I used chicken thigh
3 teaspoons Cajun spice mix, more to taste
1 pound Fettuccine - I used Egg Pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 whole green bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 whole red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1/2 large red onion, sliced - I used white onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 whole Roma tomatoes, diced - I used 2 cans chopped tomatoes, drained
2 cups low sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream
 Cayenne pepper, to taste
 Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
 Salt, to taste

 Chopped fresh parsley, to taste

Method:
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain when pasta is still al dente; do not overcook!
Sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun spice over chicken pieces. Toss around to coat. Heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy skillet over high heat. Add half the chicken in a single layer; do not stir. Allow chicken to brown on one side, about 1 minute. Flip to the other side and cook an additional minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a clean plate.
Repeat with remaining chicken. Remove chicken, leaving pan on high heat.
Add remaining olive oil and butter. When heated, add peppers, onions, and garlic. Sprinkle on remaining Cajun spice, and add salt if needed. Cook over very high heat for 1 minute, stirring gently and trying to get the vegetables as dark/black as possible. Add tomatoes and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Remove all vegetables from the pan.
With the pan over high heat, pour in the wine and chicken broth. Cook on high for 3 to 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Reduce heat to medium-low and pour in cream, stirring/whisking constantly. Cook sauce over medium-low heat for a few minutes, until cream starts to thicken the mixture. Taste and add freshly ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, and/or salt to taste. Sauce should be spicy!
Finally, add chicken and vegetables to sauce, making sure to include all the juices that have drained onto the plate. Stir and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until mixture is bubbly and hot. Add drained fettuccine and toss to combine.

This post is linked to Cook like a Star, ALL Stars Anniversary organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Mich from Piece of Cake



5 comments:

  1. My fav cookie is White Choc Macadamia :) Thanks for hosting this giveaway, I so wanna win this microplane grater!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My favorite cookie is Grandma's Butterscotch Cookies. So good.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looking good! I made this last year with CLAS too, enjoyed it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Diana,
    Looks delicious! I've made this before and we like it!
    Thanks for linking!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Diana,

    This is one of the popular PW pasta recipes and you have cooked yours very well. Yum! Yum!

    Zoe

    ReplyDelete