Saturday, September 15, 2012

221)

so far, this has been a great weekend!  yesterday, the mister and i took care of a few things around the house, then we drove into the city to hang out with our friend j.  it was so good to see her and, after catching up on life, we decided to head to the local grocery store for dinner fixins.

recently, i found a recipe for lemon basil pasta with chicken.  it sounded SO delicious and i decided that it was a dish that the three of us should have for dinner.  it involves making sauce from scratch, which was something that i had never done before--that is, until last night!  it was a smashing success, to say the least.


[lemon basil pasta with chicken.]
ingredients
  • chicken (however you fancy it... we went with chicken tenders.)
  • 1 pound of pasta, cooked al dente (whole wheat farfalle complimented the sauce so well)
  • 1/2 stick of butter (i actually used a little less and it worked fine)
  • 3-4 whole lemons, juiced
  • 3/4 cups heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup half & half 
  • 1 1/2 cup grated parmesan
  • salt and pepper
  • 20 whole basil leaves, chopped
directions
  • prepare and cook the chicken to your heart's desire.  in this case, the mister cooked up the chicken on a cast iron skillet.
  • cook the pasta, then set it aside.  reserve a cup of hot pasta water when draining.
  • then, in the same pot, melt butter over medium heat.  
  • squeeze in lemon juice, then whisk it together.  
  • pour in cream and half and half.  whisk until hot.  
  • add salt and pepper to taste.  
  • check consistency, adding hot pasta water to loosen the sauce if necessary.
  • pour chicken, pasta, and sauce into a large serving bowl or pan.  
  • sprinkle basil over the top of the pasta, then serve immediately.

we used three lemons, with a generous amount of salt and pepper, and the flavor was amazing!  it's one of the dishes i'm most proud of.  i would like to find a way to make it healthier (for example, could i substitute milk for the cream and half and half?  what about the butter?  i'll have to do some researching) but i can now say that i know how to make sauce from scratch!  i can't wait to experiment and come up with different sauce concoctions and more delicious meal ideas.  it was the perfect meal for a late summer dinner on the porch.

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