…adjusted for your own mood
This recipe features a fairly complex pasta recipe that you can usually only get in restaurants – simplified and debunked so that you can impress yourself and others around you.
The basis of this recipe working is fairly simple. You need to prep everything and have them ready so no time is wasted and the ingredients do not get cold.
Another component here is no measurements. It should be up to you how your pasta should look like. Do you want extra chicken? Add extra chicken. Do you like extra sauce – add more pasta water and more heavy cream. This is one of those recipes that you can not go wrong – and it will not be the same every-time you cook it – but it will come out perfectly for your mood.
You will need:
- a chicken breast
- a broccoli head
- a couple of fresh mushrooms
- heavy cream or milk or panna
- salt and pepper, garlic
- your pasta of choice (would stay away form long pasta for this case)
- A bit of butter and
- shredded parmesan if you want to be fancy
How to proceed:
- Cut the chicken, the broccoli and the mushroom in pieces. For the mushroom, I would recommend slices as it’s easier to cook.
- Put the water for the pasta to boil
- If you have pre-cooked chicken, that’s also not bad. Just make sure to cut it up and get it ready. If your chicken is uncooked, then it’s time to marinate it with a bit of salt, pepper, and granulated garlic. As you may have read on other occasions – marinating the chicken is a key important component. Giving the sear is the next one. That sear on the chicken makes it so much better (in technical terms, the Maillard reaction happens – which is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned food its distinctive flavor.) In other words, IF food is Browned THEN it tastes better. In this recipe, it is important because pasta, broccoli, and cream tend me to be bland. We want something to shine.
- After the chicken is done it’s time to put the pasta in the boiling water. The time it takes the pasta to cook should be the time it would take you to make the sauce. With the boiling water add the broccoli in the same container. They will need 5 minutes. You can either add them before and remove within 5 minutes or add them 5 minutes before the pasta is ready so you can drain with everything.
- Start by searing the sliced mushrooms. Here you can add salt immediately so that they release the water as they will be cooked down either way.
- After the mushrooms are seared, add the chicken that is already, and marinate.
- Once the broccoli is ready, add it to that as well and then add the heavy cream
- Let is boil for a bit and reduce the temperature.
- 1 minute before the pasta is ready, take it out and throw it in the pan with a bit of pasta water.
- Mix them all together and maybe add just a bit of butter.
- Once you see the consistency that you want, remove it from the heat and if you are feeling fancy add some shredded parmesan – the cheap one is perfect.
- Eat immediately
