I don’t know what my problem is lately, but I am feeling like I am in a slump. It seems like every night when I go to the fridge, nothing is jumping out at me. Nothing sounds good. It all seems like too much work. Two nights ago, we had baked potatoes for dinner at 900 PM.
However, the produce also abounds around here lately, and I picked up a basket filled with a plethora of great vegetables last weekend. It’s hard to be uninspired when you have so many fresh ingredients staring back at you from the fridge. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with all of it- no recipes were sounding knock-my-socks-off delicious, so I just started to cook, tasting and adjusting as I went.
The boneless chicken thighs were so great in this recipe- they came out crispy on the outside and meltingly tender on the inside. There was definitely leftover pasta (super filling!), but NO leftover chicken slices!
I’ll get off my tookus (spelling?!) and work on getting my mojo back…
Loaded Vegetable Pasta with Crispy Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 cup Italian seasoned panko
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/2 lb cavatappi pasta
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 1 T cornstarch
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried
- 1/2 tsp dried
- 1 red pepper sliced into thin strips
- 3 pattypan squash diced (or other yellow squash)
- 1 to mato diced
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 3-4 cups fresh baby spinach
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water.
- Heat 2 T olive oil in a large skillet with deep sides. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, dip in egg, then coat with panko. Add chicken to skillet and brown each side 3-5 minutes. Remove to a foil lined baking sheet. Finishing cooking in the oven for 12-15 minutes.
- In a saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic in 2 T olive oil until translucent. Pour in the wine, lemon juice, thyme and rosemary, and simmer until reduced by 1/3. Whisk cornstarch into stock, then pour into sauce. Add broccoli, bring to a boil, cover, then set aside.
- In the same pan that you browned chicken in, sauté the red pepper and squash until softened. Add tomato and spinach, sauté until spinach is wilted.
- Slice chicken thighs. Add pasta and sauce to the pan with the vegetables, toss to coat everything with sauce evenly. Top with chicken and serve.
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