Tuesday, February 12, 2008

My own Chicken Alfredo

You're gonna need the following ingredients:

Whole wheat pasta (I used spagetti, penne or rotini would work well also)
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into 1 inch cubes
Olive oil, or Smart Balance Omega 3 oil
Heavy cream, about a cup
2-3 pieces roasted red bell pepper, chopped coarse (you'll find this in jars at the market, or you can make your own if you know how)
5 cloves of garlic, minced fine
grated parmesan cheese, about 1/2 a cup
2 tsp salt, divided
fresh ground black pepper

First, saute your chicken pieces in the oil until they are nicely golden brown, not too much, you don't want a crust, just the color. Use 1 tsp of the salt here. Remove from pan and keep warm.

In the meantime, cook your pasta according to directions on package, including the other tsp of salt at this stage.

Add to pan the garlic and red pepper, saute until garlic is tender, about 3-4 minutes. Return chicken to pan, add cream and parmesan, cover and SIMMER ONLY while pasta cooks.

Once pasta is done and drained, serve with the chicken mixture on top. Garnish with black pepper and/or red pepper flakes (optional). Add a green salad and some crusty bread and this is simplicity itself. Simple AND healthy, can you beat that???