We haven't had the chance to do grocery shopping yet, and the only meat I could use for the pasta was the chicken breast. The only time I get to eat pasta with chicken is when I eat at KFC - whenever I cook pasta, I always go for the usual choice of protein: pork, beef, and tuna. I wasn't sure how the dish will turn out, but I still gave it a shot.
Chicken Pasta in Chunky Tomato Sauce
{serves 2 - 3}
Ingredients
- 125g pasta, cooked per package directions
- 150g boiled chicken breast (flaked), stock reserved
- 1 pouch Clara Ole Chunky Tomato Sauce
- 1 small onion, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium sized carrot, minced
- salt and pepper to taste
- a dash of Italian Seasoning
- 1 - 2 tablespoons Olive Oil (pure)
- grated cheese (optional)
How to Cook:
- Heat olive oil and saute onions and garlic. Just before the garlic turns light brown, add in the chicken and mix.
- Add a little of the reserved stock (three tablespoons will be enough), then the tomato sauce. Let it simmer for a few minutes, then add in the carrots.
- Add in a dash of Italian Seasoning followed by the salt and pepper. Simmer for about a minute then adjust the seasoning according to your preference.
- Toss in the cooked pasta and serve.
I didn't add some grated cheese to my plate of pasta because I try to save myself from additional calories, but since the tomato sauce I used is three-cheese flavored, I still could taste a hint of cheese into it. My sister used cheese spread (Chiz Whiz) on her pasta to add some creaminess into it.
By the way, I cooked the chicken first - I added a pinch of salt and pepper as well as a minuscule amount of onion and garlic just so the chicken already had some flavor prior to cooking the sauce. I set aside a little of the stock for the sauce, while the remaining stock (strained) I used in cooking the pasta, with additional water and salt, of course.
Whenever I cook pasta, I save gas by turning off the heat halfway through the process (about 4 - 5 minutes after I added the pasta into the boiling water), and let the remaining heat cook the pasta. Of course, this is quite a risky move... I have to check the pot every once in a while just to stir the pasta and making sure I don't leave it too long. I am sure not everyone will agree to it, but I can get al dente pasta without using much gas, so I am okay with this.
Now that I've said goodbye to pork and I don't allow myself to eat much beef, using chicken for my pasta dishes is going to be something I might do a lot from now on.
I come from a family who loves cooking and eating. I never had any formal training in cooking and that I taught myself how to cook based on the handed down recipes, but I could say that I can cook good food. In 2008, I started documenting my food trips for my