I’ll be honest with you guys, I screwed this one up the first time making it… I was all done and had even taken pictures of the final product when I realized I was missing something. The spinach! With that mistake; a variation was discovered, however not as pretty, it was still quite tasty. I ended up remaking this dish later in the week when my mom stopped over for dinner and you-betcha I included the spinach.
One other thing I messed with between the two times I made this was the noodles, the recipe says to rinse them after draining, but I wasn’t so convinced the first time. If you do rinse the noodles the sauce won’t stick as much to the noodles and will make for better photos, but my preference is to leave the noodles as they are so they can add a little extra starch to the dish and hold onto that delicious sauce. I used regular penne noodles, but you can use whole grain or brow-rice variations if you like.
Both times I made this I used julienned sun-dried tomatoes (to minimize prep time) but you can use whatever variety you find at the store, just make sure to chop them up into bite-sized pieces.
The last thing I will say about this recipe is that it makes a ton of food, so if you aren’t having company over or have a small family I would recommend cutting this recipe in half. My girlfriend and I love taking left-overs to work so this size worked out great for us.
Asiago Chicken with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Spinach
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes with oil, chopped (4 tablespoons)
- 2 lbs. chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. Paprika
- 2 cups half and half
- 2 cups asiago cheese, grated
- 16 oz. penne pasta
- 5 oz. fresh spinach
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil with sun-dried tomatoes and garlic over medium heat
- Add chopped chicken breast and sprinkle salt and paprika over top, cook until chicken is cooked through
- In the same pan, add half and half – bring to a boil- then add asiago cheese, stirring while it melts.
- Reduce heat to low, add additional salt to taste, and more half and half if sauce is too thick.
- Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain and rinse (if you want)
- Add cooked pasta to sauté pan, stir to combine, then add spinach and allow to wilt. Remove from heat and serve immediately.