I want to thank Kitchen Cafe for this unique dish. You can read her original comments and post and look under her main pasta dish label.
This recipe was pleasing to the adults because it is something you just don't expect when you see a dish of creamy pasta in front if you. Its strong lemon flavor is a refreshing flavor and perfect for spring and summer. I loved that it came together in close to a half and hour. I served it with Baker's Illistrated French Bread which is always a hit. (Should be it takes a good 24 hours to make it!) A fresh tossed salad is the perfect texture partner for this dish in my opinion and also adds the right splash of color to the plate.
If you are looking for something totally new and different to serve your family give this a whirl. I served 4 adults and 6 kids from 1 recipe, but we also had the bread and salad sides which helped it stretch further. The only thing I would like to do the next time around is try to make it with a lowfat milk or less cream to make it more waistline friendly. Enjoy!
Lemon and Garlic Grilled Chicken
As posted on my kitchen cafe:
The chicken marinates overnight in a combination of lemon and garlic and the resulting combination makes for an intensely flavorful, tender chicken that can be used in so many dishes (which I'll be posting about in the next couple of days) or served simply with a side of rice or a baked potato. As a sidenote: if you don't have a grill, simply use an indoor grill pan or you can cook the chicken in a frying pan over medium heat, being careful not to turn too often so it can brown nicely on each side.
Lemon and Garlic Grilled Chicken
Juice of 1 lemon, approximately 3 tablespoons
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic, about 2 medium cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound chicken breasts (I usually cut really thick chicken breasts down to thin them out and make the pieces a little smaller so they absorb the marinade better)
Combine all marinade ingredients. Place chicken in a ziploc bag and pour marinade over chicken. Seal bag and place in fridge overnight. Grill (or cook in frying pan). Serve with sides of your choice or cut into bite sized pieces and add to desired recipe (I'll be sharing a few with you soon). Note: If you cut your chicken into smaller, bite-sized pieces and then marinate it, you can get away with only letting it marinate for 5 or 6 hours instead of overnight.
Often, I will double the marinade and chicken and grill it all up and freeze the extras to use later.
This pasta was the second stellar application of the Lemon Garlic Chicken. I saw the recipe on Clouse Cousins Cookin' at the perfect time when I needed a recipe in which to use the rest of the chicken. It was fantastic! Creamy and light - it really hit the spot when I made it for dinner and the lemon garlic chicken was incredible paired with the chewy pasta and lemony cream sauce. Plus, I just love pasta dishes that cook the pasta in the main flavors of the recipe (in this case, the pasta cooks in chicken broth and lemon juice). I doubled the original recipe to feed our family and made a few small changes so my adapted recipe is below. This will definitely be a remake at our house!
Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken
adapted from allrecipes.com via Clouse Cousins Cookin'
Serves 4-6
3 cups shredded or cubed Lemon Garlic Chicken
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 (16 ounce) package tube pasta (I used rigatoni)
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
DIRECTIONS
In a large saucepan, season the chicken broth with the garlic powder and pepper. Bring to a boil and add lemon juice and pasta. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes.
Stir chicken into cooked pasta, along with the cream, parmesan cheese and lemon zest. Cook, stirring, over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir thoroughly before serving.
Subconsciously my husband let out an “mmmm” after his first bite. I tried a piece of the chicken by itself too [that’s some good chicken]. We enjoyed it warm on a “fall” day here in CA. We think this would taste great as a chilled dish too. Perhaps we will try that come summer time :D
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to have something different.
We halved the recipe and still it still made plenty. I used the “mini” barilla tube pasta. Love the mini size. Also we didn’t have enough real lemons to make all the juice this calls for so we just used the store bought stuff you keep in the fridge. And perhaps we can call ourselves lucky for a few less calories, but we didn’t have enough cheese either. We put less than 1/8th cup in.
Kim~ so glad you are enjoying so many of our recipes.
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