Paulettes Penne Chicken Pesto With Pine Nuts And Artichoke Hearts Recipe

How to make it

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• There are no proportions to this dish just a nice blank canvas, if you will, to add to the proportions you desire. When I make it I make about 2 cups of cooked pasta or more if I’m having company. I cook it til al dente, drain the pasta and add the pesto. I toss carefully with a wooden spoon so as not to break up the pasta or damage it. (I usually don’t heat the pesto as the Reggiano Parmesan can burn if heated too high. The heat from the pasta is usually enough to heat it up as long as it is served immediately.)
• After you add the pesto of your choice, take either a can of Marinated Artichoke Hearts that have been drained or if you’re lucky to live around a ware house store they sell huge quart size of them for about the same price that you can go in on another person with and split the big jar up!
• Take however much chicken thigh meat you want and reserve it. I cut the chicken into small 1 inch pieces with some very sharp scissors from Germany that I only use for doing that task-then they’re washed in the dishwasher.
• I usually add a little garlic or some kind of marinade to the chicken here before I cook it on a cast iron skillet on medium high heat. I have an Emerille La Gasse Cast Iron grill pan that I love that works great for grilling chicken and meats but you can cook it any way you like…using any marinade really. Variations on this can be endless!
• The assembly of this dish is layered in these steps:
• 1. Pasta
• 2. Pesto sauce
• 3. Artichoke Hearts
• 4. Cooked chicken pieces
• 5. Pine nuts to garnish & texture
• 6. Optional shredded fresh Parmesan cheese for garnishing & flavor
• Tips: (Every kitchen should have a good, sharp pair of kitchen shears used to only cut meat etc…)
• In future issues of Paulette’s Springboard of Ideas I’ll tell you about some great breads I used to make for Christmas and wait til you see some of the designs that can be achieved with a simple pair of kitchen shears in the breads!
• Paulettemotzko@yahoo.com
• Hope you enjoy!
• Whoever tries this drop me a line and say hello!