So Many Dishes

It’s rare that we cook three new recipes in a row, but that’s what we did this weekend: the lamb tagine on Friday, the stuffed cabbage soup on Saturday, and, for Sunday, one-pot summer pasta with chicken, corn, and bacon. All three were winners, both delicious and easy to prepare.

Since I’ve already posted the recipes for the first two dinners, I can’t leave out this delicious pasta dish. We decided, when we were putting our weekly menu together, that we wanted a pasta dish for Sunday. There are so many great pasta recipes that I cook, so choosing one of those seemed obvious. But I always pull several cookbooks off the shelf when we’re working on the menu, and one of them was Skinnytaste High Protein. I remembered that the book contains several pasta dishes that look appealing. In fact, we already have one picked out for Mother’s Day weekend, when Alice, Dante, and Luke will join us. I’m not sure why this recipe stood out, but I’m glad it’s the one we picked.

I’m kind of a latecomer to the one-pot pasta trend, where the pasta actually cooks in the sauce. Cooking it separately in boiling water is just ingrained in my muscle memory. Since I’ve tried some of these recipes, however, I’ve become a believer. The pasta absorbs the flavor as it cooks. The dishes I’ve made this way have not been super saucy, but the sauce is definitely there. It’s not drying out. It does save a step and a pan.

This is not an Italian dish. I wonder what my Italian grandfather would have thought of Cajun seasoning in the sauce. But the flavors are wonderful. The sauce is creamy thanks to Gina Homolka’s technique of blending reduced fat cream cheese with milk to get a creamy texture. In this case, she blends Parmesan in, as well. Gina is the brains behind Skinnytaste, and, if you read this blog regularly, you know that I’ve had good luck with her recipes.

I made only two changes to this recipe, both minor. Because it’s from a high protein cookbook, the ingredient list specifies high-protein pasta. I just used regular. Because I had thick cut bacon in the fridge, I reduced the number of bacon slices from five to three, which I figured was an equivalent amount. Other than that, the stuck to the recipe.

One-Pot Summer Pasta with Chicken, Bacon, and Corn

• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese
• 1/3 cup 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 1 – 1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (I used Penzey’s)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 5 slices bacon (or 3 slices thick-cut bacon), chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus more if needed
• 8 ounces bow-tie pasta
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 ear corn, kernels sliced off from cob, or 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

In a blender, combine the milk, Parmesan, and cream cheese and blend until smooth. Set aside.

Season the chicken all over with the Cajun seasoning.

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook, turning, until it is cooked on all sides, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the bacon, and cook until browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain, leaving the fat in the pot. Add the garlic and shallot and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add a splash of broth and scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the remaining broth, the milk mixture, and the pasta. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is almost cooked, about 15 minutes.

Gently stir in the tomatoes and corn and cover again. Cook for another 3 minutes. If it seems dry before it’s all cooked, you can add a little more broth (I didn’t need to).

Uncover and add the chicken. Stir to combine. Cook about one minute to warm the chicken through.

Remove from heat and serve topped with the bacon and basil. Makes 4 servings.

For anyone who wants to eliminate the bacon, I would add another tablespoon of olive oil before browning the garlic and shallot. You may want to check the seasoning and add salt if necessary, as the bacon does add some salt to the dish.

Happy eating!