The garden is starting to produce. This time of year makes me nervous. Sure, I love picking things from outside my window and bringing them from my little farm to my family’s table, but I also don’t want to waste any of it. We worked hard to plant all that food and I want to make sure all of it goes to good use, so I start getting worried about how to use up all the produce. The biggest worry are those zucchinis the size of a small child, so I start adding summer squash to every pasta dish I can.
This pasta recipe came from our neighborhood cookbook. The good thing about the neighborhood cookbook is you look at the recipes and you know right away who you would love to accept a dinner invitation from and who you might suggest to just do dessert. My good friend and the super fun mom (think trips to the sno-cone shop and cookies for carpool) of the block submitted this basic recipe for a sun-dried tomato pasta and we eat this as a family at least once a month. It is simple, you can use that huge bottle of sun-dried tomatoes that you don’t know how you will ever get through from Costco, and the flavors are perfect especially when you can pick a bit of fresh basil from the garden. My kids love the sauce and I force them to eat the vegetables. My husband likes this best with chunks of fresh Mozzarella.
I use the basic cream sauce and then saute a bunch of vegetables on the side. I like using all the fresh ones I can in the summer and then sticking to peppers and mushrooms in the winter time. I double this recipe so that I have leftovers for my family.
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast
8 oz sun dried tomatoes
1 cup onion, chopped fine
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons fresh basil
8 ounces bowtie pasta
1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese for sauce, plus 1/2 cup for garnish
2 cups of mixed vegetables: mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, red or green pepper all work great
olive oil
kosher salt and pepper
Pour the oil out of the sun dried tomato bottle into a small bowl and keep it on hand. Place the chicken in a zip-lock bag and pour in about one tablespoon of oil. Squish the bag so that the oil distributes evenly over the chicken. Salt and pepper the chicken and the remove from the bag straight onto the grill. Grill over medium heat until the internal temperature of the chicken registers at 165 degrees. Wrap the chicken in foil to keep warm.
Make the sauce and start the water boiling for your pasta. Heat a fry pan to medium-high. Add about one tablespoon of the reserved sun-dried tomato oil. Cook the onion until soft and just beginning to brown, about four minutes. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about thirty seconds. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and stir for about thirty seconds. Turn the heat down to low and add the cream. Add the cheese and continue to cook until the sauce thickens a bit. Remove the chicken from the foil, cut into bite sized pieces and then put it into the sauce. Keep the sauce warm over lowest heat setting.
Cook the pasta according to the box directions. Drain the pasta, return the pasta to the cooking pot and add about 1/2 tablespoon olive oil so that the pasta doesn’t stick to itself. When the pasta has just a few minutes left, heat up a fry-pan to medium high so you can saute your vegetables.
Once the pan is hot, saute the vegetables until the vegetables are tender but still colorful, it usually takes me about four minutes. If you like your veggies especially sweet, sprinkle some sugar on them as they cook — my husband’s favorite trick. I actually like doing this on my griddle so the vegetables have plenty of room to dance around without crowding each other. But, a fry-pan works great too.
Assemble the pasta. Put a little bit of pasta on each plate, add about 1/2 cup vegetables and then cover with the sun-dried tomato sauce. Garnish with a generous amount of fresh basil, parmesan and a bit of kosher salt and pepper.
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 8 oz sun dried tomatoes
- 1 cup onion, chopped fine
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1½ cups heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons fresh basil
- 8 ounces Farfalle pasta
- 1½ cups Parmesan cheese for sauce, plus ½ cup for garnish
- 2 cups of mixed vegetables: mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, red or green pepper all work great
- olive oil
- Kosher salt and pepper
- Pour the oil out of the sun dried tomato bottle into a small bowl and keep it on hand. Place the chicken in a zip-lock bag and pour in about one tablespoon of oil. Squish the bag so that the oil distributes evenly over the chicken. Salt and pepper the chicken and the remove from the bag straight onto the grill. Grill over medium heat until the internal temperature of the chicken registers at 165 degrees. Wrap the chicken in foil to keep warm.
- Make the sauce and start the water boiling for your pasta. Heat a fry pan to medium-high. Add about one tablespoon of the reserved sun-dried tomato oil. Cook the onion until soft and just beginning to brown, about four minutes. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about thirty seconds. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and stir for about thirty seconds. Turn the heat down to low and add the cream. Add the cheese and continue to cook until the sauce thickens a bit. Remove the chicken from the foil, cut into bite sized pieces and then put it into the sauce. Keep the sauce warm over lowest heat setting.
- Cook the pasta according to the box directions. Drain the pasta, return the pasta to the cooking pot and add about ½ tablespoon olive oil so that the pasta doesn't stick to itself. When the pasta has just a few minutes left, heat up a fry-pan to medium high so you can saute your vegetables.
- Once the pan is hot, saute the vegetables until the vegetables are tender but still colorful, it usually takes me about four minutes. I actually like doing this on my griddle so the vegetables have plenty of room to dance around in the pot without crowding each other. But, a fry-pan works great too.
- Assemble the pasta. Put a little bit of pasta on each plate, add about ½ cup vegetables and then cover with the sun-dried tomato sauce. Garnish with basil, Parmesan and a bit of Kosher salt and pepper.