Thursday, May 5, 2011

bucatini with spinach and chicken in lemon butter sauce

thursday night....just the two of us eating at 9 pm because we both had after work stuff to do.  its late we are starving.  i take 5 minutes and look for something to do with pasta, lemon, left over chicken and some fresh spinach.  mario batali has a recipe for  lemon sauce over pasta....i have made giada's lemon chicken penne with cream many times but that has a lot of steps and is a bit spicy...i decide to wing it.  i have some bucatini which is some crazy pasta .....looks like regular spaghetti but it has a hole in the middle.....when you slurp it up it makes noise like sucking through a straw......it cooks up almost like udon noodles.  it came out really nice...creamy light and lemony good.  you can tell by now i love lemon! and best of all we were eating in 15 minutes...and it wasn't take out.
my first plate...yes there were two! yummmmmmm

recipe follows the jump
half of a box of bucatini cooked according to package directions
6 tablespoons of butter
zest of 2 large lemons
1/3 cup of chicken stock
1/4 of a bag of fresh spinach (use as much as you like)
1 large left over chicken breast (grilled)
splash of heavy cream
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
grated parmigiano reggiano  cheese to taste

cook the pasta in salted boiling water...10 minutes for mine.  while the pasta is cooking melt the butter in a large saute pan.  add the lemon zest cook on medium for a few minutes add the chicken stock and reduce then turn heat to low...wash and chop up the spinach and slice the chicken into bite size pieces.  dump the spinach into the lemon butter mixture and saute for a few minutes...add the chicken and a splash of cream.  reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water...drain the pasta...dump the bucatini into the saute pan....cook for one minute...adding some of the reserved pasta water...serve....top with fresh ground pepper and grated parm........ah delightful!

2 comments:

  1. Terry, this sounds very delicious! Like Paula Deen, you like your butter.

    Dennis

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  2. dennis, paula would have probably used 2 sticks...have seen her in person in NY....she is hilarious!

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