Hello wonderful readers of food felonies. I greet you and bring to you today a lovely creamy pasta recipe. One that I absolutely love to make and is as easy as it gets, might I also add that it’s also a very flexible recipe that can be adjusted to suit your preference quite easily. You still don’t have your aprons on? At this critical pasta time? I wouldn’t repeat myself. Let’s get cooking!

Ingredients for the chicken :

• 2 cups of thinly sliced chicken breast or the breasts of one medium sized chicken
• 1/2 Teaspoon of smoked paprika
• 1/8 Teaspoon of black pepper
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Salt

Season the chicken with the spices and leave to marinate for about 30 mins in the refrigerator.

Ingredients for the Alfredo pasta:

• 3/4 of a 500g pack of spaghetti
• One small onion (finely chopped)
• 2 Teaspoons of finely grated garlic
• 50g of butter (25g + 25g)
• 2 1/2 cups of cooking cream
• 1 Teaspoon of salt (or to taste)
• 1 Teaspoon of black pepper
• 1/2 Teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon of red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1/2 cup of finely grated Parmigiano reggiano or parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon of freshly chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon of dried basil
• 1/2 cup of pasta water

Method:

Boil the pasta in salted water according to the package instructions but about 2 minutes less in time so as to not overcook the pasta as it would keep cooking in the Alfredo sauce when everything is combined together.

To a non-stick pan or skillet on high heat melt 25g of butter and add the chicken pieces to cook, avoid stirring the chicken too much to prevent excessive release of water from the chicken.

Cook the chicken pieces for 6 minutes stirring about twice in that time.

Drain and reserve any juices that would be released from the chicken and place the chicken in a separate plate and set aside.

Add another 25g of butter to the pan on medium low heat and sweat the onions until they turn golden brown and translucent.

Add the grated garlic and cook for about a minute while continuously stirring to avoid the garlic getting burnt.

Add the cooking cream along with all the spices and herbs and let it come up to a boil.

By now the pasta should be ready, drain the pasta and reserve 1/2 cup of the water for the sauce.

Add the cheese and chicken to the mixture and stir in till it’s completely combined.

Loosen the mixture by adding the pasta water and the juice from cooking the chicken and stir together.

Add the cooked pasta and stir till it’s completely coated in the sauce and cook for about 30 seconds.

Check for seasoning to your taste.

Turn off the heat and garnish with some chopped parsley.

That’s it my people! I always have this with some garlic bread. You can also add more types of cheese as you like eg cream cheese, mozzarella etc and more herbs and spices to suit your taste.

I hope you enjoy this one, catch me on Instagram @foodfelonies for some more amazing stuff. Until next time, love and light.