Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Restaurant Style Chicken and Veg Pasta

I made this because my youngest son loves the little toddler pasta microwave meals, and thought this would be a great alternative to one. I also thought hubby and I might enjoy it. I will say that it was good, but my son was the one who loved it the most, which is good as it made quite a lot. He actually ate it the whole week for lunch, so if you have young children, you may want to consider trying this.

I`m not saying it is just for children though. It almost tasted like a restaurant style pasta you would be served at a family restaurant in the US. I know that doesn`t really explain much if you have never had something like that, but I am not quite sure how to describe it. If making it for adults, I think it would be best to pan fry the chicken instead of boiling it.

You can check out the cookbook here, the mediterrasian way


What you need:
500 g large pasta
500-600 g chicken pieces, bite size
1-2 cups broccoli, also in bite size pieces
1 package of mushrooms, sliced
7 or 8 Tbls sundried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped
4 whole green onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves minced garlic
500 ml chicken broth
500 ml milk
6 Tbls maisstärke, mixed with 6 Tbls water for thickening
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese (or another you really enjoy) Normally I use freshly grated, but didn`t have any on hand at the time.
salt and pepper to taste


Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add the pasta, cook for a minute and then add the chicken (unless you decide to pan fry it). Add the broccoli when you have 5 minutes left on the pasta.



While the pasta cooks, heat a pan and add both the tomatoes and their oil, mushrooms, scallions and garlic. Stir for 2-3 minutes.



Add the liquid and heat until it begins to boil.


Add the cornstarch mixture and keep stirring until thickened, about 2 minutes



Add the cheese, salt and pepper and mix until combined.


Drain the pasta mixture then add the veg mixture and stir gently. Add the chicken if you pan fried it.



There you go. You can chop everything ahead of time and it will not take that long to make. Depending on your likes of the various vegetables, feel free to add more or less.