Today’s post is brought to you by a kitchen adventure! So gather round your laptops, tablets, and cell phones, it’s story time!
I’m always on the hunt for my next go-to pesto pasta dish. After extensive online research, I found a recipe that tickled my taste buds just by reading it! Not only were the ingredients some of my favorite flavors in the world, but the entire dish was cooked in one pot. Clean up would be a breeze! I went to the grocery store with my eyes on making this prize pesto pasta.
The recipe had its own version of pesto. I’m a big fan of my own but I decided to riff off the recipe’s pesto instead. This was a mistake. I began adding elements of my pesto with elements of the recipe’s pesto. As I gave my food processor one last pulse, I was eager to taste this emerald green sauce I had created. I hoped that this would be the best pesto EVER.
I stuck a spoon into the food processor expecting the flavors to bring me tears of joy. I was stunned. I had to taste it again, surely my taste buds were tricking me. It was still terrible! I made arguably the worst pesto on the planet! It was saltier than ocean water. There was no saving this one. I wouldn’t serve that pesto to my worst enemy.
Panicked, I tried to figure out a way to salvage this recipe. The pasta HAS to have pesto. I frantically searched the internet for spinach pesto recipes because I was officially out of basil. The last thing I wanted to do on that rainy Tuesday night was to take a trip back to the store. Thoughts of my previous hunt for basil haunted me to my core. I stood in the kitchen perplexed by this predicament. What’s a pesto lover to do?
Suddenly it hit me. The freezer, check the freezer. In the freezer stood a mason jar filled with my precious pesto. Past Denisha froze nearly eight ounces of pesto- a genius move. It was frozen solid, a minor inconvenience. I warmed the jar under warm water long enough to let the jar shaped pesto cube slide out into a sauce pan. I slowly warmed it up and added it to the pasta. The frozen pesto saved my dinner! There was no need to rush to the store and my pasta was everything my taste buds had longed for.
Pro-tip: Always freeze some extra pesto.
Chicken Pesto Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes
What you need:
- 8-10oz pesto
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 6 oz sun-dried tomatoes (drained)
- 8 oz pasta
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 4 oz baby spinach
Instructions:
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- In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and brown on both sides. About 10 minutes.
- Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
- Sauté garlic for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant.
- Add the chicken broth, pasta, salt, sun-dried tomatoes, and red pepper flakes and stir until completely combined.
- Cover. Bring liquid to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, or until pasta is al dente.
- Add spinach and stir until wilted, then add the chicken.
- Add pesto, stir until completely combined.
- Enjoy!
- In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and brown on both sides. About 10 minutes.
- Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
- Sauté garlic for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Be careful not to let it burn.
- Add the chicken broth, pasta, salt, sun-dried tomatoes, and red pepper flakes and stir until completely combined.
- Cover. Bring liquid to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, or until pasta is al dente.
- Add spinach and stir until wilted then add the chicken.
- Add pesto, stir until completely combined.
- Garnish with shredded parmesan if you like, and enjoy!
Inspired by this recipe.
DCdishes 