Orecchiette Pasta with Chicken and Goat Cheese

For the last 2 months we’ve been having a particular chicken dish at least once a week and still love it, haven’t gotten tired of it at all.

Here’s what we’ve been making - Orecchiette Pasta  with Chicken and Goat Cheese.    It’s pretty simple to make and real tasty.  We first had this dish at the Nordstrom’s Bistro at Easton back in 2003 or so.  It was a simple, almost elegant dish with a lot of flavor, and was the first time we had had goat cheese.  A few years later, I saw goat cheese in the grocery store, remembered that dish and decided to recreate it at home.  It turned out to not be a difficult task at all.  Here’s how I do it:

Ingredients (for 3 servings):

Orecchiette Pasta , 8 oz.  (Reserve a ½ cup of the cooking water!)

Chicken broth, ½ cup

Goat cheese, 4 oz. (I’ve been using Kroger Private Select crumbles, < $3)

Mrs. Dash® Tomato Basil Garlic Seasoning Blend

2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 lb)

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Cayenne pepper

Paprika

Method:

Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne and paprika.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  When done, reserve ½ cup of the pasta water.

While the pasta is cooking,:

Spray a non-stick 10 – 12 inch pan with an oil spray, heat over medium low heat.

Place the chicken breasts in the pan and cover, cook for 6 minutes.

Turn the chicken over and cook for 6 more minutes, covered.

Set the chicken aside to rest for a couple of minutes, then slice into about ½” thick slices, cut those slices in half to make bite sized pieces.  Reserve the juices.

Heat the chicken broth to boiling

Into each of the three pasta bowls, add a couple of tablespoons of the goat cheese, and sprinkle with some Mrs. Dash.

Spoon about 2 oz. of hot broth and a couple of tablespoons of the reserved pasta cooking water into each of 3 pasta bowls over the goat cheese. 

Top the cheese broth with a third of the pasta, the a third of the chicken.

Sprinkle with a bit more of the goat cheese and serve.

Mix it all up in the bowl and dig in!

 (pictures soon)

Enjoy,

Lorence