Penne Alla Prego
Almost two years ago, I was given Pioneer Woman’s cookbook for my birthday. For almost two years now I have been pining over this one recipe in there that kept sounding so delicious yet completely wrong for me. Why? It involved shrimp. If you know me, you know that I don’t do seafood or sea creatures of any kind. It makes my stomach turn thinking about it. If you have been reading this blog for the past few months you should also know that I am yet again pregnant which means that I especially don’t do seafood right now. But this recipe was calling my name. Don’t ask me why it took almost two years for me to have the great epiphany that instead of shrimp I could use chicken. Genius! Pioneer Woman calls it Penne Alla Betsyafter her sister. I call my adapted version that has a few changes other than just the chicken, Penne Alla Prego since Baby Kaz II insisted I figure out a solution to the shrimp issue.
Penne Alla Prego (Adapted from Pioneer Woman’s Penne Alla Betsy)
- 3/4 pounds Penne Pasta
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts (you can use a rotisserie if you need to save time)
- 3 Tablespoons Butter
- 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 whole Onion
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1/2 cup White Wine
- 1 can Tomato Sauce (8 Oz)
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
- 1-2 cans diced tomatoes
- 1 pkg frozen spinach
- Fresh Parsley, to taste
- Fresh Basil – To Taste
- Salt To Taste
- Pepper To Taste
Preparation Instructions
1. Boil water and then cook the penne pasta until it is al dente (a bit on the firm side of cooked.
2. While the pasta is cooking, set your chicken breasts in a pan that has the can of chicken broth poured into it. Cover the pot and simmer the chicken breasts over medium high heat for approximately 20 minutes until cooked through. Again, if you are short on time you could use a cooked rotisserie chicken.
3. Finely dice one small onion and mince your two cloves of garlic.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil into a pan/skillet. Add the garlic and onion and sauté, until tender.
5. Pour in your white wine and let the wine evaporate for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
6.Now add an 8-ounce can of plain tomato sauce. Stir well until combined. Add in your cans of diced tomatoes (or chopped fresh) as well. Next, add 1 cup of heavy cream. Continue stirring. Turn heat down to low and let simmer.
7. While your sauce is simmering, chop up your herbs (approx a tablespoon of chopped parsley and about the same amount of chopped basil – although I do like basil and might have added a bit more)
8. Defrost and thoroughly drain the packaged spinach. Chop up your cooked chicken. I prefer to chop up the chicken rather small so that I will eat more of it, but you could also serve a grilled chicken sliced over servings of the pasta and sauce for a similar effect.
9. Add the spinach, cooked chicken and pasta into the sauce. Stir until combined and heated through.
Ta-Daaaaaaaaa!!!! I solved the shrimp dilemma and have a delicious pasta dish to show for it. You are obviously more than welcome to stick to the original which does have shrimp, but it lacks spinach and chopped tomatoes. A little give and take people…and little give and take.
Bon Appetit!
mmmm that looks so delicious! i need to try it!