Asiago Chicken Pasta w/Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Spinach

Tonight was the night that the cooking adventures began. Now, I know how to cook and I know how to bake. My husband is just normally the one who does all the cooking because I absolutely hate it when I go to make something and, barring any allergies, I get, “Hey can you leave this or that out?” NO!

Now, let’s get to the recipe.

It actually looks like the one from the recipe!

• INGREDIENTS

  • 8 oz penne pasta (use gluten-free brown rice penne for gluten-free version)

  • ⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes with oil 2 tablespoons

  • 1 lb chicken breast sliced in half, chopped

  • 3 garlic cloves minced

  • salt

  • ¼ teaspoon paprika

  • 1 cup half and half and more - (half milk - half cream to form a lighter cream)

  • ¼ teaspoon salt

  • 1 cup Asiago cheese shredded

  • 2 cups fresh spinach

• DIRECTIONS

  1. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain, rinse.

  2. Use sun-dried tomatoes in oil - if the sun-dried tomatoes are too big, chop them into smaller bites.

  3. Heat sun-dried tomatoes (cut them) in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and chopped garlic on medium heat. Add chopped chicken breast to the sun-dried tomatoes and oil - generously season the chicken in the skillet with salt and paprika. Cook chicken until it's cooked through completely.

  4. To the same skillet with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes, add 1 cup of half and half and ¼ teaspoon salt - bring to boil. Add ½ cup of grated Asiago cheese (half of what the recipe calls for) and stir for about 30 seconds to melt the cheese. Reduce the heat from boil to medium and continue stirring to make sure all cheese melts. At this point, if the sauce is too thin, gradually add the remaining ½ of Asiago cheese on medium heat, constantly stirring all around the skillet.

  5. If the sauce gets too thick, add another ⅓ cup of half and half and stir.

  6. Taste the sauce - if ¼ teaspoon salt was not enough, add more.

  7. Add cooked and drained pasta to the sauce. Add spinach, mix everything - cover with the lid and let the pasta sit to allow spinach to wilt, on low simmer. After spinach has wilted, stir everything together to combine, taste and add more salt, if needed.

Original receipt is from Julia’s Album

Notes:

I didn’t have Asiago, so I used parmesan instead and added some mozzarella for gooeyness. I also used about 1.5 pounds of chicken instead of a pound because we like a lot of meat in our pasta.