I had planned on doing something with boneless chicken breasts this week because I've been heavily doing bone-in chicken thus far for this challenge. That's not surprising - we do love our bone in chicken.
I pulled out Cook's Illustrated "The Best Chicken Recipes" and found a pasta recipe which I had most of the ingredients for - this was important because if you've been to the grocery store at all in the last couple days, you know what it's been like - long lines, empty shelves. Crazy.
So - I'm not going to make a big deal about posting the recipe for the "Chicken and Pasta with Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomatoes" here because frankly....it was a bust. And you really don't want to make it.
I was intrigued because the sauce was neither cream based nor had a ton of butter in it. It was quick to come together, but I was juggling multiple steps between 2 pans on the stove in order for it to all come together.
I sliced and sautéed the chicken breast cutlets in a large skillet in a little butter, letting them brown a bit. In the other pan, I had boiling water and blanched the broccoli, fishing it out with a slotted spoon so I could use the same water to cook the pasta.
Both of these are put to the side. The recipe has you tenting the chicken to keep warm, while just leaving the broccoli to one side, which makes no sense, because later the chicken is warmed in the sauce and the broccoli is just supposedly added straight to the plate (and will have since gone cold). Hmm.
Once I fished the broccoli out of the water, I used the same water to cook the pasta. I also needed some pasta water to finish the sauce - I always forget to save it, so I set a strainer right on top of a Pyrex measuring cup. It's a simple hack - you dump the pasta in to drain, and it automatically saves you a cup of pasta water to add to the sauce.
Meanwhile, in the skillet, I sautéed half a chopped onion, a couple cloves of minced garlic, some fresh thyme, and a pinch of red onion flakes. One would think this would give the pasta sauce some flavor, but no. I should have done the full amount even though I was only doing half the recipe. I added a little flour to the mix, then added chicken stock and white wine.
That gets simmered for a few minutes until thickened and slightly reduced, then the chicken is added back into the sauce. The sauce gets a tablespoon (if you follow the exact recipe) of parmesan cheese and an ungodly amount of sun dried tomatoes - it suggested using an entire 8 ounce jar. I did not add nearly that much - while I like sun dried tomatoes, they have a strong flavor and a little goes a long way. I also ended up adding more cheese because well. Cheese.
The pasta gets tossed in this with some of the reserved pasta water to bring it all together. Although the recipe specified that the broccoli was to be added directly to the plate, I also added the broccoli at this point to let it warm through.
Gave it a taste....and found it to be very bland. Added salt and pepper....didn't especially help. Added some more cheese and another tablespoon of butter. Slightly better. Finished with some fresh parsley which tasted like parsley.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 10. This wasn't terrible or inedible...it was just bland and ultimately very uninteresting. Nothing that really popped.
Ease of Preparation: 6 out of 10. While a relatively fast dish to pull together, you really have to have everything chopped and ready to go, as you're juggling back and forth between 2 pans.
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