Girls With The Mostest

suebsue

Notes: Some of the ingredients in this dish are pricey but it has an interesting flavor. I sometimes make a double-batch (to use up everything I have to buy anyway). I also pre-cook my chicken breasts and "fan" them over the pasta in the last 10 minutes of cooking (to heat them through).

When you're making this, it will look like alot of spinach but obviously, it cooks down to almost nothing. I like that I can make this in the morning and bake it just before I'm ready to serve. If you do that, allow at least an extra 15-20 minutes of bake time...

One final note: this was the first dish I cooked for my DH when we were dating and it's still one of his favorites...

Pasta with Pancetta, Spinach and Grilled Chicken

8 first course or 4 main-course servings

1 pound penne or other tubular pasta
2 cups whipping cream
8 ounces spinach, stemmed and coarsely chopped (I buy the bagged and rip it up a bit)
1/2 cup (about 2 ozs.) freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese (preferably imported)
1/2 cup (about 2 1/2 ozs.) freshly grated Bel Paese cheese (I have yet to find this, I sub Fontina cheese)
1/2 cup Mascarpone cheese
1 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
Salt
4 ounces Pancetta, cut into approx. a 3/8" dice (I buy the packaged pancetta which is thin-sliced and just cut it in to 1/2" inch or so pieces).
2 tbls. (1/4) stick unsalted butter
4 8oz. boneless chicken breasts (I use boneless/skinless)
Extra-virgin olive oil

Freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese for garnish.

Butter 9x13 baking dish. Add pasta to large pot of rapidly boiling, salted water, stirring to prevent sticking. Return water to boil and cook pasta to al-dente. Drain well. Transfer to [very] large bowl. Mix in cream, spinach, 1/2 cup Parmesan, Bel Paese [or Fontina], mascarpone and rosemary. Season with salt. Transfer to prepared dish. Dot surface with pancetta and butter.

Prepare barbecue grill [as I said, I pre-cook my chicken and just broil it]. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake pasta until bubbling 20-25 minutes (if it's cold, it's more like 45+ mins!)

Meanwhile, brush chicken with oil. Place skin side down on grill rack and cook just until firm and no longer pink, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to platter and let stand 5 minutes.

Cut chicken breasts diagonally into thin slices. Fan atop pasta. Drizzle chicken with oil and sprinkle with Parmesan. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

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Sue