February 14, 2018

Pasta with Chicken and Mushroom Sauce

Chicken, Entrées, Mushrooms, Pasta 2 Comments

This summer and fall, though I was on an accidental-on-purpose hiatus from posting, I was not on hiatus from cooking. I was, however, dialing back my habit of dramatically over-estimating how many evenings a week I could cook, how long exotic ingredients would keep their freshness or my interest, or how committed I would be to cooking after working a 12-hour day. I started using a lot of ingredients on repeat, mixing and matching them in different variations depending on how whacked out my schedule ended up looking like on any given day. A few of the ingredients I came to rely heavily on were mushrooms, zucchini and yellow squash that were exploding out of my garden at a tremendous clip, chicken breast, and of course, pasta.

If I published every variation of vegetable-y pastas with light cream sauces that I played with last fall, I’m pretty sure you’d think that’s all I ate. (At some point I’ll share some more of them with you, when I actually have more vegetables growing in their prime.) This is one of my favorites that came out of those months, my quick-I-need-dinner-and-what-do-I-have-in-the-fridge-to-piece-it-together season.

What I like most about this meal is the noticeable lack of sauce. There are no swimming noodles here. Really, the liquids that are tossed onto the mushrooms and simmered for a bit are mostly just a vehicle for carrying the earthy, punchy flavor of the mushrooms onto the noodles.

You can also totally make this without chicken if you don’t want it or don’t have any thawed – I consider it a huge success if I’ve actually thawed something in advance. If you need even more time savers or are short on ingredients, you can easily swap the garlic cloves for garlic powder, or the fresh thyme for dried. That’s what dried herbs are there for!

This dish is easy enough that it can be tossed together and modified based on what you have on hand, but it’s also fancy-tasting enough to make for a dinner party. Win-win.

Pasta with Chicken and Mushroom Sauce
Serves 3-4 as a main course

8 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 T olive oil
salt & pepper
8 oz cavatappi pasta (or other twirly shape)
1 T unsalted butter
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
1 tsp course salt
a few cranks of freshly ground pepper
1/2 c dry white wine
1/2 c heavy cream
1 oz freshly grated parmesan cheese
pasta water as needed

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once you’ve started cooking the mushrooms, add pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente. Reserve at last half a cup of pasta water before draining and set pasta aside, covered, while other ingredients finish cooking.

While the water is heating, heat olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Salt & pepper chicken breast and sear on each side until cooked through. Once the chicken is done, remove it to a cutting board and slice into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

While the chicken is cooking, heat butter in a medium frying pan. Add mushrooms, garlic, thyme, course salt, and freshly ground pepper to the melted butter and toss. Mushrooms should release their juices and cook down quite a bit. Once mushrooms have darkened and look soft, increase heat to medium high to sear the mushrooms a bit, tossing frequently. Reduce heat back to medium and add white wine. Cook for 3-4 minutes until reduced by half, then add the cream. Stirring frequently, allow cream to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese.

Combine pasta, chicken, and mushroom cream sauce in a large pot. Add a bit of the pasta water if it seems too dry. Serve immediately and often!