2.15.2014

Another Winner! Jerk Chicken Pasta

My cooking success rate skyrocketed this past week. I planned a menu for the entire week, using recipes found on Pinterest and managed to make 3 out of the 5 selections. Go ME!  This one, Jerk Chicken Pasta comes from this nifty little blog, Plain Chicken. I was attracted to the picture before the name, because I haven't had a whole lot of Jerk Chicken dishes in my life. It just LOOKED good.

Turns out, it IS good!

There were approximately two things I changed, solely in the interest of cutting back the fat and carbs. The original recipe called for 1/4 cup of butter, 3 cups of heavy cream and a pound of bow tie (farfalle) pasta.  I swapped those for a bit of olive oil, a jar of Ragu Light Alfredo and some whole wheat couscous. While, I'm not sure how much fat or carbs was eliminated, every little bit helps, so there's that...


Here's the conglomeration of herbs and spices that make up the Jerk seasoning, as she stated in her blog, it makes quite a bit of seasoning...Please also not that garlic powder doesn't typically arrive in clumps, unless you have our cabinets-which seem to be adorned with a great amount of humidity or moisture that makes anything in a plastic bottle clump together....tightly sealed or no!  Just dump them all in a bowl and combine with a fork, or, if you're lazy like me, slap a lid on it and shake until thoroughly combined!  


We are not HUGE lovers of eyewatering spicy heat in our foods, so I did not thoroughly coat the chicken bits...just a healthy sprinkling on both sides of each piece. 


While the chicken bits were fricaseeing, I went ahead and cut up the peppers and onions. Riveting shit, I know! 


Once the chicken was nicely seared and looking like this, I set it aside to reflect...


then sauteed the peppers and onion in the same pan, with a bit more olive oil....maybe a teaspoon. I also tossed in a chicken broth ice cube to loosen up all the brown stuff on the bottom of the skillet. Now, if you're a neat freak and want a perfectly WHITE sauce, you will want to clean the skillet out before you sautee the veggies.  


Once the veggies were perfectly cooked (for me), about 5-7 minutes on medium, I added the entire jar of Alfredo, stirred and then put the chicken back in the skillet. I put a lid on it and let it simmer for another 5-7 minutes. 


Here it is, the finished product. Since there are only two of us, I only used half the pack of chicken tenderloins (5, to be precise). There was enough sauce left over to make it again the next night. 




The couscous was a fine substitute for the pasta, but you could always use a whole grain pasta (in any shape or size) to increase the health value. The choice is yours. Regardless, I highly recommend this recipe, even if you leave the original recipe unmodified, because what's NOT to love about heavy cream and butter?  

This one's a winner, folks!  Try it!  



Here's another winner: 

Caprese Chicken


UPDATE!!!

Because I am a dork, I forgot to show you what to do with all that leftover seasoning:


If you've got an empty spice bottle, toss it in there and stick a new label on it...or like me, just throw it in a zip-lock bag, sign and date it and toss it up in the cupboard.  The Jerk season could very easily work with some roasted vegetables or fish.  Carry on!  


3 comments:

  1. Look so yummy, thanks for share nice post and I will try it at home soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My cooking success rate skyrocketed this past week.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you've got an empty spice bottle, toss it in there and stick a new label on it...or like me, just throw it in a zip-lock bag, sign and date it and toss it up in the cupboard. The Jerk season could very easily work with some roasted vegetables or fish. Carry on!

    ReplyDelete

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