Recipe of the Moment - Chipotle Chicken Alfredo Pasta

Brad came home from his trip to Montreal to watch the F1 race there (jealous!) and so I finally had a reason to make yummy food this week. Where there's no-one there to share it with, I just don't have as much fun making anything harder than rice or yogurt. But in honor of our first dinner together after he came back, I wanted to do something creative. A blackened chicken pasta of some sort came to my head, using the blackening process I used in this post last month for a blackened chicken salad.

But as far as the pasta sauce and such went, I really wasn't sure how to go. I found quite a few recipes that made an alfredo sauce to go with blackened chicken, but that sounded a little boring to me. So I decided to use this recipe for an alfredo sauce, but modify it to make it a chipotle alfredo sauce with a little more kick.

If I do say so myself, this was fantastic. Just spicy enough to enjoy without needing ice cold milk every other bite. And a ton of good, creamy flavor to balance out some of the spice as well. I used wheat pasta and it worked nicely, and also made me feel a little better about the not-so-healthful properties of the meal. A side note, the pictures from last night just don't do it justice, but trust me, you should try this sometime soon. It is very worth eating.

Chipotle Chicken Alfredo Pasta

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, pounded with a mallet until 1/2 inch thick

4 T blackening spices

Olive oil

2 T butter

1 c white onion, diced

3 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, cleaned of seeds and chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 c cream

1 t chipotle chile powder

1 t salt

1 large tomato, chopped

1 lb whole wheat linguine

2 green onions, chopped

1/4 c parmesan cheese

1 T dried parsley

Directions

1. Coat chicken breasts in olive oil and rub with blackening spice mixture

2. In a large skillet over medium high heat, sear each side of the chicken for about 2 minutes, until a nice crust forms

3. Reduce the heat to low and let chicken finish cooking (it won't take too long, they are thin pieces of meat)

4. Remove chicken and wrap in foil to stay warm

5. Start boiling water for the pasta, add in pasta and cook till al dente, drain, but reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water

6. While pasta is cooking, make the chipotle alfredo sauce, wipe the chicken pan out with a paper towel and then heat the butter and 1 T olive oil over medium high heat

7. When butter has completely melted, add onions and chipotles, cooking till onions are somewhat soft

8. Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute

9. Add cream, chipotle powder and salt and bring to a boil

10. Cook until the sauce is reduced by half, about 3 minutes

11. Toss the pasta, the tomatoes, the reserved pasta water and the sauce in a large bowl

12. Add green onion, parmesan cheese and parsley and toss to combine (cook's note, I forgot the green onion and cheese and it still turned out wonderfully, but I bet it would have been better with those ingredients involved)

13. Slice chicken breasts and lay on top of pasta to serve

Enjoy!