Bowtie Chicken Pasta with Broccoli

I'm no stranger to pasta. Also...I'm no stranger to broccoli OR chicken. And if you put them all together...they are one of my favorite things to eat. So I made this the other day and was very pleased with the outcome. This made a nice big skillet full of yumminess with just a little bit leftover. It's a nice dish to make on a warm evening when you don't want to crank up the oven. My kitchen gets the full impact of the evening sun so I'm always looking for ways to avoid using my oven in the summertime during the dinner hour. This dish will be GREAT!

Bowtie Chicken Pasta with Broccoli



12 ounces bowtie pasta – cooked and drained
4 chicken breasts – grilled and sliced
4 cups broccoli flowerets – cooked and shocked
½ cup finely diced onion
2 cloves garlic – minced
Salt
Pepper
4 teaspoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 ½ cups whole milk

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Boil broccoli for about 3 minutes then immediately plunge into ice cold water. Remove from water and set aside.

Grill chicken. Slice into 1 inch pieces and set aside.

In a large skillet, sauté onion and garlic in a little olive oil for about 3 minutes. Add the 2 tablespoons of butter and let melt. Add the 4 teaspoons of flour and stir. Pour in the milk and cook and stir until thick. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add cooked pasta, cooked broccoli and grilled chicken to sauce and stir until all is coated. Heat through. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

* This wasn't REAL heavy with sauce..so if you like to be "saucy"...you might want to double it.

Here's all you need for this dish.

Chop up your broccoli, then...

..boil it for about 3 minutes or so. 

Then shock it in an ice bath to stop 

the cooking. You want bright green 

broccoli flowers with a little crunch 

...not that pale green mushy overcooked stuff.

Season your chicken breasts and 

grill them. I used my Foreman, but 

you can grill them outside or in a grill pan.

Saute the onion and garlic in a little 

olive oil. Every good dish starts with 

onion and garlic. Except desserts. Ew.

Then add 2 tablespoons of butter 

and let that melt. Then add the flour 

and stir it up. It'll be kind of clumpy but keep stirring!

Then add your milk and it will start to smooth out.

What I should have done at this 

point was to throw in some fresh 

grated parm. About a cup or so is 

what I should have added. Man...I 

wished I'd added that! Next time! 

All you see here is salt and pepper thrown in.

Then add the cooked pasta, cooked

 chicken and cooked broccoli and heat through.

Add some parm..or MORE parm if 

you added it earlier in the sauce which 

I hope you did because it would be divine!