The CSA box that we have been getting this summer only has a few weeks left...and to be honest I am a little relieved. There are things I have really liked about it, but there have been times that I am scrambling to find a new recipe so that I don't end up throwing food out. Not necessarily a bad thing, but kind of tough when time is at a premium these days. (My absence at this blog is evidence of that.)
Anyway, last Monday I had some chicken I had thawed out for the day before that I hadn't used but HAD to be used that day. I had about 3 cups of basil that maybe had a day left before it was going to start to brown. I figured the best thing to do with the basil is make pesto and then put some in the freezer but I wanted to do something other than grilled chicken.
Enter Allrecipes.com and their handy search by ingredient feature. I entered "chicken" and "pesto" and up popped this recipe. It only had seven ingredients all of which I had on hand. (Including the cilantro that we got from "salsa time" at the CSA farm which I had forgotten I had.) I did modify it a little bit because I have never cooked with chili sauce before and didn't want to over do it.
So I whipped up my pesto and got to work. The result was a super yummy, full of flavor, easy weeknight meal that is sure to be seen again on the menu! I made a quick green salad and dinner was on the table in under 30 minutes.
Ingredients
8 ounces of pasta (I used bow ties because that it what Taelin picked)
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons of hot chili sauce
1/2 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
4 Tablespoons of pesto
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cilantro
Directions
1. Cook whatever pasta you choose, drain and set to the side.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Mix in the chile sauce and chicken. Cook and stir chicken until evenly browned and juices run clear.
3.Toss the cooked pasta, pesto, Parmesan cheese, and cilantro into the skillet, and continue cooking just until heated through.
There was a suggestion to toss in some goat cheese at the end to make it kind of creamy. While I am sure it would be good I didn't have any goat cheese on hand and I am betting that it would make it a little less friendly around the waist. I might try next time I make it mixing in a couple of low fat Laughing cow cheeses...or just plan for the goat cheese and have it on hand.
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