Pasta With Chicken and Asparagus

By jkenb

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 lb asparagus spear, fresh
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 lb fettuccine (or linguini)
• coarse salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 3 tablespoons shallots, finely chopped
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 small chili pepper (or 1 teaspoon dried hot pepper flakes(or to taste)
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
• 1/4 lb gorgonzola
• 2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese, freshly grated

Preparation

Step 1

1 Remove all sinew and cartilege from the chicken breast and cut into strips about 1 and 1/2 inches long and a half inch wide.
2 scrape and trim the asparagus, discarding any tough ends, and cut on the diagonal into one and half lengths.
3 Drop the asparagus into rapidly boiling water and cook for just a few moments--they should still be crisp--and drain and reserve, keeping warm.
4 Cook the pasta in rapidly boiling salted water until al dente and drain and reserve, keeping warm.
5 Heat the butter in a casserole and add the chicken strips, stirring and seasoning with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, cooking less than a minute, until the chicken just begins to change color.
6 Add the asparagus and stir.
7 Add the shallots and cook briefly, about 30 seconds.
8 Add the cream, hot red pepper (or pepper flakes) and the tarragon and stir.
9 Break the gorgonzola cheese into small lumps and add it, cooking just until the cheese melts.
10 Add a generous grinding of black pepper and the tarragon and stir.
11 Add the drained pasta and toss well.
12 Serve with grated parmesan on the side.