Tuesday, July 8, 2014

creamy lemon chicken pasta with broccoli

Today I went to one of my girlfriend's house. We sort of got carried away and chatted till quite late. So when I got home, I decided the best thing to do was to cook a pasta dish.

One-pot pasta dishes are great when you don't have a lot of time to spend at the stove or when you get home really tired after a day's work and want a meal with minimal fuss.
This dish is really easy to cook.

In a hot Dutch oven, I sauteed the diced chicken which had been seasoned with salt and pepper until the chicken was brown.
I removed the chicken and set it aside. Then I added a little more olive oil and sauteed the diced onions and red pepper.
I added garlic and gave everything a quick stir.
Next, I added the mushrooms and broccoli.
And then chicken stock.
Followed by the chicken, and gave everything a good stir, I covered with the lid and cooked this for 3-5 minutes, until the broccoli was soft.
I added salt and pepper as well as lemon juice.

And the cream.
Finally I added the corn starch slurry.
I mixed the pasta with the sauce.

If the sauce is too thick add a little pasta water and mix some more until you get the consistency that you like.
I served the pasta with grated Parmesan cheese, chilli flakes and more pepper. (Can you tell I am a pepper monster by now? Hehe.)
The LAM looked at this and said, "This looks and smells really good!"

And proceeded to eat an entire plateful.

WOW.

High praise indeed!

By the way, if you don't already know, this blog has been selected to be one of the finalists For the Best Cooking Blog in this year's Singapore Blog Awards!

Thank you so much for your support for the last year, and I have to be thick-skinned and ask you to cast me a vote by clicking on the badge below. Mucho gracias! :)

RECIPE
Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta with Broccoli (Serves 4-6)
Loosely adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients:
600g chicken breasts, cubed
1 medium onion, finely diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium red pepper, de-seeded and finely diced
2-3 cups (about 1 medium broccoli) chopped fresh broccoli florets
1 pack (200g) shitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
2 cups (480ml) low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 1-2 lemons)
1 pack (500g) pasta - I used instant spaghetti
3/4 cup milk or cream
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
Salt and pepper
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
dried chili flakes (optional)

Method:
1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Saute in a hot Dutch oven in some olive oil. When chicken is brown, remove the chicken and set aside.
2. Add a little more olive oil. Saute onion and red peppers for 2-3 minutes, until slightly softened. Add garlic and give everything a stir.
3. Add mushroom and broccoli, followed by the chicken stock. Cover the Dutch oven with a lid and cook the broccoli for 3-5 minutes, depending on how soft you want the broccoli to be.
4. Add salt, pepper and lemon juice, followed by the cream (or milk). Check the seasonings.
5. Thicken the sauce with the corn starch slurry.
6. Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining the pasta.
6. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add a little pasta water to thin the sauce.
7. Top with Parmesan cheese, chili flakes and pepper. Serve immediately.

1 comment:

  1. Diana, if the LAM says it is very good, then so it is! This one I can eat and I will leave out the Parmesan .

    ReplyDelete