Chicken and Broccolini in Lemon Sauce over Pasta

This is a dish that has evolved quite a bit over the years. It started as a standby during my college days, when i would cook up a pot of pasta, flavor it with butter, olive oil, salt and pepper and whatever dried green herb that I had from the supermarket.

It served to satisfy a lot of hungry days and at about $2 per box of pasta it was a cheap alternative to ramen. But as my tastes have evolved, so has this dish - and as my cholesterol number has risen, the butter has been replaced by all olive oil.


In addition to the pasta part, i've created a chicken and broccolini dish with lemon sauce to serve on top of it. This evolved from the stir-fry that dad used to always make at home (and when the wife lets me, I replace the chicken with fresh sweet sausage out of the case, but that and the loss of butter is another story for another post). The concept is the same though - saute small pieces of your protein in oil, then mix in the veggies. Of course, I've added dried red pepper for heat, onion for texture and sweetness and lemon for acid and sharpness.


recipe:

Chicken and Broccolini:

Sweat 1 diced small white onion, 1 dried red and 3 coarsely chopped cloves of garlic in 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add .75 lb of sliced chicken breast that has been lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. Add the juice of one and a half lemons. Saute until light brown and add lightly boiled very roughly chopped broccolini.

Pasta:

Prepare 1 lb of thin spaghetti. Place in colander to rest. Place 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and dried red pepper in large pot under low heat for 1 minute. Add spaghetti in small batches while also adding salt, pepper, dried basil (fresh parsley or green onion or basil will work as well) and fresh lemon juice.

Serving:

Serve chicken and broccolini on top of pasta.