Aidan is my high school son. He made this for dinner last night for us. Cooking is a life skill that every teen should have. Cooking is economical. we call it Frugal Cuisine.2 Chicken breasts
1/2 bag of Bowtie pasta (8 oz)
2 stalks of broccoli
2/3 cup of cream
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs olive oil
1) Start a steamer pot with 3 quarts+ of water of High heat.
2) Wash the broccoli, and trim off the outer thick stem skin (if any) with a carrot peeler. Slice the broccoli vertically, so that it looks somewhat like the broccoli in the photo above.
3) Put the broccoli in a steamer and place it over the pot of boiling water.
4) When the stems become translucent, they are done (about 2-3 minutes). Take one out and test it by eating it. Remove steamer with the broccoli and set aside.
5) Keep the water boiling. Add the bow tie pasta. Cook for about 8-10 minutes.
6) In the meantime, place a large skillet on medium high heat with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, or enough oil to coat the bottom on the skillet. Make sure that the skillet has a lid.
7) When the oil is hot, you will see wavy patterns in the oil or smoke coming off the top.
Hold the lid as a shield, in one hand.
Quickly put the chicken breasts in the oil and cover with a lid so that it doesn't spatter.
8) IMMEDIATELY turn the heat down to MEDIUM.
Move the lid so that it is not covering the skillet completely, so that steam can escape, and the oil doesn't spatter, leaving about a 1/2" to 1" opening.
9) While the chicken is cooking, get a small 1 quart saucepan out and pour the cream in it. Put it on the stove at Medium heat.
10) Stir the pasta. Take one out and let it cool about 30 seconds, and taste to see if it is done.
When it is done, turn off the pasta and remove it from the stove.
11) Stir the Parmesan cheese into the cream. This is the simple Alfredo sauce.
12) Check the Chicken. When it is brown on the bottom side, turn the chicken over with a spatula, then put the lid back on the skillet, slightly opened to allow steam to escape. If you don't let the steam escape, the chicken will get steamed instead of browned.
13) Stir the Alfredo sauce and check the chicken.
14) When both sides of the chicken is browned, take one out and cut into the middle of it to check for doneness. It should be opaque (not pink) inside.
15) When the chicken is done, remove from skillet and turn off the heat.
Cut the chicken into 1" cubes. Put them into two pasta bowls or on two plates.
16) Stir the Alfredo sauce.
17) Scoop the pasta out of the pot with a slotted spoon, or drain the water then scoop the pasta out of the pot. Place the pasta in bowls on top of the chicken.
18) Evenly distribute the broccoli on top of the pasta.
19) Drizzle the Alfredo sauce evenly over the broccoli, pasta and chicken.
Serve immediately.
Serves 2.
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