The bulk of this recipe was stolen from my favorite foodblog, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I will admit to making very few changes, but I wanted to share this with you because it is not at all like mac ‘n cheese, but more like… well, everything I ate in Scotland, meaning it has corn in it. And as you all should know by now, corn makes things better.

Coming down the pipe in the next week or so: another coconut shrimp recipe (I can never find one I really like,) ice cream cake (a really lazy version that you can only make if you have connections, people, connections are important) and perhaps, just maybe, some secret things. That I can’t talk about here. Even though I don’t think Rick reads this. Shhh…

Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless chicken breasts, cut into medium sized, cookable pieces (I’ll explain in a minute)
• Chipolte chili powder (optional, I imagine, but I used it)
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 jalepeno, seeded and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped (are you noticing a pattern?)
• 1 1/2 c. shredded pepper jack cheese
• 1 c. cream (I used light cream)
• 1 4oz. can chopped green chilies (there’s chopped again!)
• 1 c. corn (frozen and thawed, if you like, or from a can, if you’re feeling the laze)
• 4 cups cooked curly pasta (somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 of a pound)

Set your water to boil for your pasta - the rest of this will be done faster than you think. Boil as soon as the water is ready, and cook it until just al dente, because it’s gonna hang out with some cream and some sauce and get soft but you don’t want it to get squishy.

I cook my chicken in large chunks rather than to chop it all up at first because I find the texture to be better. By this, I mean cutting a breast into thirds, seasoning it, cooking it, and then slicing it after it has a chance to rest. By all means, do it the other way, cutting into bite sized pieces and then cooking, if you like.

Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of chipolte powder. Cook about 4 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Set aside and let rest.

Over medium heat, add jalepeno, garlic, red pepper, and onion with a little olive oil, and sautee until just soft. Add corn and diced chilies. Let it hang out while you cut your chicken into bite sized pieces. Throw the chicken in there. Add the pasta, cream, and cheese. Stir until it is all melty. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 8:59 pm and is filed under chicken, dinner, fast, mexican, pasta, recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.