Chicken Florentine Pasta

By á-24979

I made this for a late lunch Saturday, and it absolutely completed me. It also absolutely completed my fourteen-year-old daughter, whose love of pasta is surpassed only by that of her mother, otherwise known as me. She and I took turns filling our little bowls and wolfing down helpings of the spinach-and-tomato packed pasta deliciousness, our contentment level increasing with each cylinder of penne.

It was a mother-daughter pasta moment, is what I’m saying. And it was beautiful.

I can sure talk something to death, can’t I?

Never mind. Don’t answer that. Let’s just move on to the pasta, and I would like to point out that for the purposes of this post and the rest of the cooking posts I’ll post this week, when I cooked on Saturday I decided to—brace yourself—move my dining table to another window in order to avail myself of some different light than I’m used to using. So if the photos look a little different, furniture rearranging is the reason. If you’re a weirdo like me and like to take photos of the food you cook and eat, try moving to a totally different spot sometime!

If you’re not and if you don’t, just skip forward to the “make this pasta dish as soon as humanly possible’ part.

In fact, let’s just do that right now.

Ingredients

• ■1 pound Penne
• ■4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• ■Salt And Pepper, to taste
• ■2 Tablespoons Butter
• ■2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• ■4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• ■3/4 cups Dry White Wine
• ■3/4 cups Low-sodium Broth, More If Needed
• ■1 bag Baby Spinach
• ■2 cups Grape Tomatoes, Halved Lengthwise
• ■4 ounces, weight Parmesan Cheese, Shaved With Vegetable Peeler

Details

Servings 10

Preparation

Step 1

Cook pasta according to package directions in lightly salted water. Drain and set aside.

Cut chicken breasts into chunks and sprinkle on salt and pepper.

Heat butter and olive oil over high heat in a large skillet. Add chicken chunks in a single layer and do not stir for a minute or two in order to allow the chicken to brown on the first side. Turn the chicken and brown on the other side. Cook until done, then remove chicken from the skillet.

Turn heat to medium. Add garlic and quickly stir to avoid burning. After about 30 seconds, pour in wine and broth, stirring to deglaze the pan. Allow the liquid to bubble up, then continue cooking until it's reduced by at least half (most of the surface of the liquid should be bubbling at this point.)

Turn off the heat. Add spinach, tomatoes, chicken, and cooked pasta to the skillet. Toss to combine; the spinach will wilt as you toss everything. Add plenty of Parmesan shavings and toss to combine.

Serve with extra Parmesan shavings.

Posted by Ree on April 22 2012