Tuesday, the day Timmy was home, I asked him what he wanted for dinner. His reply was, an alfredoey, chicken, sun-dried tomato pasta of some kind. So, I jumped on the internet to see if anything sounded good. First recipe I found had 4.5 stars so I took a look at it. The reviews were fantastic and it sounded very flavorful (and not a low cal dish). I've been watching what I eat lately but Tim was home and it sounded really good to him too, so I said, what the heck, I'll break for a day!
I did make some changes so that this recipe was not entirely fattening. It calls for all cream, I didn't use all cream, and to be honest, I think you could get away with maybe a dash of cream and all milk, or all milk. So here is the recipe, my changes will be in red if you are interested.
Also, I must add that Madison LOVED this (Riley doesn't like it unless it's just pasta and sauce with nothing else). She couldn't get enough the next day. Which brings me to my next point, I'd make this sauce in the morning, let it mingle and then reheat for dinner. My leftovers were more flavorful and so yummy!
Asiago Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
Prep Time:
25 MinCook Time:
35 MinReady In:
1 Hr
Original Recipe Yield 8 servings
Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream I used 1 c milk, and 1 c heavy cream. Next time I will probably do all milk.
1 cube chicken bouillon
1 tablespoon Asiago Cheese I used more like 2 tablespoons and I also added some parmigiano reggiano
1 tablespoon cornstarch, mixed with equal parts water
1 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes honestly, I could take this or leave this. Tim wanted sun-dried tomatoes though.
1 (16 ounce) package bow tie pasta
3/4 cup bacon
1/4 cup butter Substitute olive oil
1 cup diced red onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped Hello garlic, it can definitely use more. I used 3 cloves, next time I will use about 4 or 5
1 cup chopped green onion
1 pound grilled skinless, boneless chicken breast, diced I had Tim bbq the chicken (lightly seasoned with Santa Maria), next time, I'll be using the rotisserie baby. Much easier.
1 cup heavy cream I think I did half and half again. Half cream, half milk. At the end though, I added around 3/4 of a cup more of milk. This was so creamy and honestly I don't think you need as much cream as it calls for, or any for that matter.
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Directions
1.In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook 2 cups cream until just bubbling. Watch carefully, to ensure that it doesn't boil over. Stir in bouillon and Asiago cheese. Stir with a whisk until dissolved. Add cornstarch mixture, and simmer until sauce is thickened, stirring constantly. Mix in the sun-dried tomatoes. Set aside, or cover and refrigerate for later use.
2.Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.
3.Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute red onion until soft and translucent. Stir in garlic and cooked bacon, and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in green onions, chicken and 1 cup cream. Cook, stirring, until cream is heated through. Add Asiago cream sauce, and heat through. Toss with cooked pasta until evenly coated, and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Sauce before adding the asiago cream mixture.
4. A few more changes. Make sure you salt and pepper your vege's. I also salted and peppered the sauce and I added red pepper flakes. The red pepper flakes give it just a tad of heat and I think finishes off the sauce nicely. I used mushrooms in this dish too that I threw in with the green onions
I also made a bleu cheese and walnut spinach salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. If you want to know what this tastes like, order it from Macaroni Grill. It's so nice and the first time I realized that I do like bleu cheese. I recreated it and have used it many times as a side salad, sometimes with mixed greens, and sometimes with baby spinach. For this particular pasta though, I will not make this salad again. The flavors fought with each other a bit. This pasta would be better with not such a flavorful salad.
The recipe calls for this dish to be paired with a Chardonnay, but I went with a Pinot Grigio. The only Chardonnay that I know I like is La Crema, but I didn't want to pay almost $20.00 at the grocery for that bad boy. I think the Pinot Grigio paired just fine.
I got this recipe off of Allrecipes.com, here is the direct link to this yummy dish ---> click here!
