Yummy Pasta for Kimmer, and alla youse, too

Not that I'm Ree or anything, but this is some good pasta. I blatantly stole this from a meal I had in Sugar Land at Leonardo's this fall. Usually I am a sketti and meatballs kind of girl; my pasta should be long, stringy, and capable of being slurped. My sauce has to be a jar affair, because I just don't have eight hours to make sauce myself. OK, I do, but I refuse to give up a day to cook it. If I had a large kitchen with an MP3 player going and maybe some adult beverages, I might could swing it.



I have simple tastes, is what I am saying.



But this dish intrigued me. I brought home leftovers and tried to analyze them. I poked around in my food enough to drive my mother crazy were she with me. In the end, I came up with this. It can't be exactly what I ate, but it's close enough; it's rilly rilly good, not your usual pasta fare, and is simplicity itself. Plus, I figured it out myself, so technically, this is my recipe. I sorta created something, even! The ingredients aren't measured well, because it's so easy to vary. If you hit near my recommendations, you'll be fine.

Chicken Farfalle

olive oil
diced chicken breast (1-2 breasts, more if desired for larger servings)
chopped onion (1 medium-sized one will do)
chopped frozen or fresh asparagus (either works fine; fresh is easier to come by - use as much as desired, but I put the whole bunch in)
fresh chopped spinach (1-2 handsfull)
2-3 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes (use more or less as desired)

Saute asparagus in oil about 4 minutes, then add chicken and cook until no longer pink. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until onion is translucent. Add spinach and tomatoes and stir together well. Cover and let sit on low heat, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted. Serve over bow-tie pasta (farfalle.)

Variations:

* add other vegetables such as mushrooms, small broccoli bunches, zucchini at the same time as asparagus
* add 1 clove garlic, crushed when adding chicken
* sprinkle lemon juice in pan when adding chicken

You can really make this your own by playing with it and adding different things. It all goes in one pan, and you can do it in order as above, or precook the chicken and onion together and have them in the fridge ready to add when the asparagus is starting to cook. The thing that gives it the zing, for me, is the sun-dried tomatoes. They add so much flavor it doesn't need much more seasoning. This adjusts to any size crowd, from dinner for two to a dozen. Just figure for each person about 1/4 chicken breast, 3 spears asparagus, 1/8 onion, and more or less tomato as desired.

If you make this, let me know how you liked it. I'm kinda proud of it.