New Recipe #12: Penne with chicken and broccoli

Before I get into the details, just know that this newest recipe adventure was a raging success. How can we go wrong with pasta, chicken, and broccoli? It was on the table in 45 minutes, which is not bad for my first try at a purportedly 30-minute process. JG and I enthusiastically ate obscenely large helpings of this dish, and we were still able to stock the fridge with leftovers for this week’s lunches. Hurrah!

That said, I am an idiot. I made over twenty attempts in an effort to produce a non-blurry photo for Mission: Put Together this morning, and I could not figure out why my hand had developed some sort of palsy. When I went about uploading the pictures, I realized that I had been using the wrong setting the whole time. Great. Apparently, that was the latest sign that I am on stupid mode right now, because I missed a crucial part of this recipe that would have made my life so much easier.

In the pasta section, my faithful America’s Test Kitchen cookbook has a healthy selection of what they call “skillet dishes” that are designed to be one-pot dinners. They are generally faster preparations and family-friendly flavors, but I have never tried one of them before, and I was intrigued. Even though I knew the intent of this group of recipes, I completely missed the point that I was supposed to use dry pasta and cook it in the sauce. I turned the one-pot idea into a pasta-pot-colander-skillet juggling act, and I didn’t realize my error until I bit into the tasty, but overcooked, penne and wondered aloud, “Was I supposed to cook the pasta beforehand?” With the recipe in front of me now, I see that there are, not one, but two references to cooking the pasta with the rest of the dish. In my defense, however, neither of them lies in the actual recipe, but I’m ashamed to report that a picture caption reads, “Cook the pasta in the sauce for a one-skillet supper.” Well, then.

My fundamental gaffe was only magnified when I used a whole pound of penne instead of the 8 ounces for which the recipe calls. It’s silly, but I don’t like having half of a box of pasta left unused, and I figured that we’d eat it anyway. I eyeballed the chicken broth and cream for the sauce so that it was more or less doubled and tossed in some extra salt for good measure, but I did not take into account the small issue of volume displacement. When I added my full pound of (cooked) pasta to the pan, lo! My skillet runneth over. Be ye not so stupid! JG transferred the gargantuan pile of food into our second-largest serving bowl, and I finished off the sauce there.

Thankfully, my “creative license” did not cause irreparable harm in the finished product, and it was very tasty, indeed. There’s nothing fancy or complicated about this dish, but it feeds a crowd and comes together quickly. In fact, once the chicken went into the pan, the process moved along so fast that I had no opportunity for process-oriented photos, so I could only capture the final plate. I’ll leave the comedic delight that was me trying to add food to and stir a heaping pan to the imagination.

It must be noted I did not bake one single new thing this month! I am somewhat proud of myself for not needing a consolation baked good and simultaneously appalled that I substituted a dessert for yet another pound of pasta. However, all of that is about to change. I have a feeling that a cookout next week will welcome some buttermilk lemon cookies, and the annual beach trip will be a great excuse to make margarita cupcakes. Don’t worry, oven, I’ll be back!

(Recipe after the jump)

Skillet Ziti with Chicken and Broccoli
America’s Test Kitchen
Serves: 4-6
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced into 1-inch pieces
• Salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 onion, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 ounces ziti (2 1/2 cups)
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 bunch broccoli (1 1/2 pounds), stems discarded and florets cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup jarred roasted red peppers, rinsed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (optional) [Ed. note: I interpreted this as one lemon's worth, which seemed fine.]

Directions

1. Pat the chicken dry, then season with salt and pepper. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until it is lightly browned but not fully cooked, about 4 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a bowl.
2. Add 1 more tablespoon of the butter, onion, red pepper flakes, oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the skillet. Cook until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.
3. Sprinkle the [Ed. note: UNCOOKED] ziti evenly into the skillet. Pour the broth and cream over the ziti. Cover and bring to a boil, about 5 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the broccoli and roasted peppers. Cover and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta begins to soften and the broccoli turns bright green, about 8 minutes.
5. Stir in the chicken and any accumulated juice. Cover and continue to simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes longer.
6. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, the Parmesan, and lemon juice (if using). Season with salt and pepper to taste.