Weeknight staples! My good friend Wendy and I, were just recently having the “What do you cook for dinner during the week?” conversation. It turns out, that we are all constantly in search of tasty, creative and no-fuss weeknight dinners that eliminate the “You are serving that again!!!” comments. Come Sunday night, and I too am faced with a whole weeks’ worth of menu planning. Well realistically 3-4 nights since Bell & Evans and the local pizzeria are part of my repertoire. Thankfully, with summer here, we are blessed with our friend the BBQ which absolutely makes life a whole lot easier. However, I also love having a couple simple pasta dishes to turn to with no fancy ingredients needed. Take my Summer Chicken with Peas & Spaghetti. Most often I have chicken and frozen peas in the freezer along with onions, garlic & some type of cooking broth in the fridge. Ironically this week was French Onion Broth, which I used for the first time and was delicious. Check this off as one more dish to include in your weekly meal planning, it’s a good one! Promise!
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1lb. boneless chicken breast cleaned and trimmed cut into bite-sized chunks
- 1 small red OR yellow onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves sliced thinly
- 4 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour for coating
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/3 cup frozen peas
- 1/3 cup chicken, veggie or French onion broth (white wine is a wonderful option as well)
- 1/4 cup of Parmesan or Vegetarian Parmesan cheese
- 8 oz. whole grain spaghetti or pasta of your choice
- Chopped parsley to garnish (optional)
Directions
1.) Cook pasta according to directions
2.) Put flour, onion powder, salt, pepper into a large resealable bag. Coat chicken in flour mixture. (This step stops the chicken from drying out)
3.) In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over high heat.
4.) Place chicken in and saute until lightly brown. Remove to paper towels and set aside.
5.) Meanwhile heat remaining oil in pan and cook onion and garlic until golden and translucent.
6.) Stir chicken back into the pan joining onions and garlic and pour in broth or wine. Let boil and then cover and reduce to a simmer.
7.) Cook the sauce until it appears thicker and mix in frozen peas, warm spaghetti and Parmesan cheese.
8.) Toss all together with tongs and serve with an additional sprinkle of cheese & garnish of parsley.
looks amazing!