As the days of summer bring climbing temperatures I find myself not wanting to be in the kitchen cooking.
And when I do go in to cook, I want the meal I'm creating to be light and fresh. Nothing too heavy. It's too hot for that.
Mostly, I'm loving my grill. But sometimes you just don't want to stand out in the heat over a fired up grill.
Instead, let's stay in a nice, air conditioned kitchen. Yeah...that sounds nice.
One of my favorite dishes to make when the weather heats up is this light pasta dish that I learned from my mother in law.
I love it because it's not an exact science. It all depends on how much you want of each ingredient.
You can make this meal as veggie heavy or as chicken heavy as you want.
The only thing that you can't slack on is the garlic. But you all know how I feel about garlic!
So...kick up that a/c and let's get cooking!
Start by putting some water on to boil. Add some chicken bouillon to give it a...well...a chickeny flavor.
Heat up your skillet, toss in some olive oil and some garlic and saute about 30 seconds to a minute.
Add your carrots, sprinkle with garlic salt and saute until tender. Once cooked, remove the carrots and set them aside.
Now we start the process again. Oil, garlic, saute 30 seconds. But this time we add broccoli with a sprinkling of garlic salt. Saute until tender. Remove to the bowl with the carrots, set aside.
About now you want to throw your noodles into the boiling chicken flavored water. When they are done cooking, drain the noodles, reserving 1 cup of the broth. Toss the noodles in a little olive oil to keep them from sticking together.
And one more time! Oil, garlic, 30 seconds. Chicken, garlic salt, saute until cooked through. Instead of removing the chicken though...
(PS. This is the original dish I made for the Tyson Grilled & Ready recipe. I used 1 1/2 cups of the diced chicken here)
We add the veggies back into the skillet so everything can heat back up.
Add in the broth from the noodles and let it cook for about 5 minutes to let the juices soak into the broccoli.
Serve chicken and veggies over a bed of angel hair pasta. Enjoy with a crisp cold glass of fruity white wine on a hot summer night. Enjoy!!
Garlic Chicken & Veggies Over Angelhair
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Ingredients:
- 4 large carrots, sliced
- 1 bag broccoli florets
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, diced
- 1 package angelhair pasta
- 1 cube chicken bouillon
- 4 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus more for tossing in pasta
- 3 Tablespoons garlic, minced
- Garlic salt
Directions:
- For the pasta: Cook the pasta according the the package. In the boiling water add chicken bouillon before adding pasta. Reserve 1 cup of broth prior to draining. Toss pasta with Olive Oil.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil and 1 Tablespoon minced garlic. Saute about 30 seconds.
- Add carrot slices, sprinkle with garlic salt. Cook until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Place carrots in a large bowl, set aside.
- To the skillet, again add 1 Tablespoon olive oil and 1 Tablespoon minced garlic. Saute about 30 seconds.
- Add broccoli florets, sprinkle with garlic salt. Cook until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Place broccoli in bowl with carrots. Set aside.
- To the skillet, again add 1 Tablespoon olive oil and 1 Tablespoon minced garlic. Saute about 30 seconds.
- Add diced chicken, sprinkle with garlic salt. Cook until heated through, about 8 minutes.
- Add veggies back into skillet with chicken. Pour in reserved broth from pasta. Cover and let simmer another 5-10 minutes or until broccoli soaks up some of the juices.
- Serve chicken, veggies and juice over a bed of the pasta.
- Serve and enjoy!!
