Chicken Diavolo Pasta. Prepare yourself to be blown away! This chicken dish I am sharing today with its creamy Diavolo sauce is amazingly delicious.
I found the original recipe on Pinterest from a blog called Sum of Yum and I thought it looked delicious. I immediately put it into my must cook folder.
Yesterday was the day I cooked it and I downsized it to feed only two people, or one with leftovers. If you want the full recipe by all means check it on Sum of Yum.
Next to potatoes, pasta is one of my favorite things to cook and eat. For years and years I had to hold back my desire to cook and eat it because I had a husband who was not fond at all of it.
Not a problem anymore. I can now indulge in it to my hearts desire! Yay! That is one of the positives I choose to take from my recent experiences.
Diavolo refers to the hot and spicy flavors of this dish. Diavolo in Italian means "devil." I suppose you could also call this Deviled Chicken Pasta.
Admittedly there is a bit of spice and fire in this dish, but there is also plenty of yum. Yes creamy, sinful deliciousness!
One thing which I really liked about the recipe is that it used simple, wholesome ingredients. Ingredients I usually always have in my kitchen.
Pasta, sun dried tomatoes, baby spinach, chicken, garlic, cream, and cheese. I have also always kept a healthy assortment of spices and seasonings.
Not in huge quantities because that would be a waste, but if I need something, generally speaking, I can put my hands on it.
I had some fresh baby spinach left from the other day and was keen to use it up. This recipe was perfect for that!
I used a chicken breast I had frozen earlier this year when I had bought a whole chicken on offer and cut it into pieces. Each piece was wrapped individually, ready to take out of the freezer as and when I needed it.
Buying whole chickens when they are on offer is a great economy. The more people that handle your food, the more it adds to the cost.
By paying about 10 dollars for a whole chicken and cutting it up myself, I created quite a few meal options, whether I am cooking for myself, or for others in addition to myself.
That is one way to make expensive meat go a lot further. I think so at any rate. This simple action has always worked well for me! And its not really that hard a thing to do if you have good sharp knives.
One thing also that works with this recipe is to prep all of your ingredients before you begin. Skin, bone and chop your chicken (on a separate board to the other ingredients) and pop it into a small bowl ready to go.
Destem and chop your spinach. Why destem? Well, its simple really . . . the stems can be much tougher than the leaves and really don't look that appealing.
Chop your sundried tomatoes. Measure out your cream and cheese, also placing them in separate containers. Mince your garlic.
Put some salted water on to boil for the pasta and measure that out as well.
This is called Mise en Place in the culinary world and it is something every good Chef does. Not only does it help to prevent you from leaving something integral from out of the recipe, but it also makes the cooking process go a lot quicker and smoother!
This is a simple sauce to make. Cream, cheese, garlic, some cayenne and crushed red chilies (for heat, butter and of course the chicken, spinach and tomatoes.
You begin by heating a bit of olive oil (I always use light, not best extra virgin) for cooking. You add the cayenne to that and allow it to flavor the oil.
How much you add depends on how much heat you want to add. I don't like things overly spicy and so I only use about 1/4 tsp of it, maybe even a bit less, but I would certainly not use more than that.
You add your chicken to this spicy oil and flash fry it over a medium heat. You don't want to dry it out, but it is nice if you can get it a bit brown in a few places.
And yes, it does splatter, but to me that's never been a problem that a good dish cloth can't fix or sort out. I have never been afraid of making a mess or cleaning it up.
I think that is one of the secrets to being a good cook. Never be afraid to make a mess, or let things splatter. There is so much flavor that develops in the process of splattering!
You want to sear in your chicken juices, not stew them. You also don't want to dry out your chicken by over cooking it, and as we all know, chicken breast can dry out very quickly and easily.
Once you have your chicken lightly browned you can turn down the temperature and add your butter and garlic. You don't want to brown the garlic.
Browned garlic can be somewhat bitter unless it is roasted, and frying isn't roasting. Also there's cream in this dish, so butter? meh . . . why not!
Once you've done that you add the cream and hot pepper flakes to the dish and your sauce is well on its way. Your pasta should be on the boil by now.
Farfalle, or bow tie pasta as it is also known, is perfect for this. It it the right size and shape to cup the sauce and yet doesn't interfere with the integrity of it.
The shape works well with the cubes of chicken and the other ingredients. I have always had a special fondness for farfalle as well.
You get those nice wings of pasta at the outer edge and then the slightly chewy really al dente bits at the center pinches. Those little nooks, crannies and pocket in the folds to hold in all those delicious flavors, Yum!!
The spinach and the sun dried tomatoes basically just get wilted and heated through. This dish is the color of the Italian flag! Red, green and white!
Cream, Parmesan cheese, that's it. Your dish is complete. Grate your own cheese if at all possible and use a good brand. It does make a huge difference.
Quick, easy, colorful and delicious! This tasty one pan dish has all the elements of success going for it! if you are a vegetarian you could use cubes of Tofu instead of chicken and I dare say you could also use tuna in this is you are a pescatarian!
Kind of a tuna skillet casserole dish. Oh my but that sounds yummy don't you think?
Dishes like this make fabulous mid-week meals any time of the year. Designed to get you in and out of the kitchen quickly and yet in the most delicious way possible! Enjoy!!
Chicken Diavolo Pasta
Yield: 2
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 25 Min
This spicy chicken pasta is easy to make and delicious. If you have everything ready to go before you begin it also goes together very quickly. Its a bit spicy as written but if you like it to be more so you can adjust the cayenne or pepper flakes.
Ingredients
- 6 ounces (170grams) farfalle (bow tie pasta)
- 1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 8 ounces, can use two smaller ones)
- 1 TBS light olive oil
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ( adjust as needed)
- 1/4 crushed red pepper flakes (adjust as needed)
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 TBS butter
- 3/4 cup (180ml) heavy (double) cream
- 3/4 cup (135grams) grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup (60 grams) fresh baby spinach, destemmed and chopped
- 3 ounces (60g) sun dried tomatoes, chopped
- sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Trim the chicken and then cut it into bite sized pieces. Place into a small bowl. Chop the spinach and the sun-dried tomatoes. Place a pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta.
- Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the cayenne pepper and heat. Drop in the chicken, stirring to coat it with the pepper oil. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until cooked through and light golden brown in places.
- Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to the package directions, while you continue with the sauce.
- Add the butter and garlic to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium low. Cook to melt the butter, without browning the garlic. Add the cream and crushed pepper flakes and simmer for five minutes.
- Drain the pasta and rinse with hot water.
- Add the cheese to the pan whisking to combine and then stir in the sundried tomatoes, spinach and cooked pasta. Stir through and heat.
- Serve immediately with or without additional cheese for sprinkling over top.
This is a dish with instant appeal. I'm actually making another of your chicken dishes tonight, or I'd try this straight away. I shall pencil it in for next week's menu. As you say, it uses things that one always has on hand, so a brilliant one to store away for days when you've not been shopping, but still want something good for dinner. I love recipes that use pantry staples, or a versatile dish where you can adapt it to what you have on hand - substitute tofu or tuna for the chicken - and you could also add bacon and even olives.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to try it.
These are my favorite kinds of recipes as well Marie. I hope you enjoy it! I think bacon and olives would be excellent additions! xoxo
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