What's Cooking Wednesday: Chicken Tequila Pasta

Since I'm living all by my lonesome right now (except for my two furry guys, of course), I haven't felt much like cooking "normal" size dishes lately.  Call me crazy, but eating the same leftovers every meal for three days in a row just isn't cool.  And as cheap as I am sometimes, I am not going to throw food away unless I absolutely have to.

Then, when I was talking with my sweet friend SueAnn the other day, she asked if I wanted to come have dinner with her and her son.  I said sure, and asked if she might let me turn it into a "What's Cooking Wednesday" post.  She agreed, so I headed over ready to take some pictures and learn a brand new recipe.  (So thank you SueAnn for sharing!!!)

 The night I came over she decided to make Chicken Tequila Pasta.  Let me just tell you... this stuff is
in-cred-i-ble!   I wanted to eat it as slowly as possible to savor each bite and keep those flavors floating in my mouth for as long as I could.  Needless to say, I would highly recommend trying it sometime.... sooo, without further ado, here's how you make it!

Gather your ingredients.  (It may seem like a lot, but it's really not so many.)  You'll need:

-1 pound pasta (Farfalle, Penne, or Fettucine is best) cooked  (**Am I the only one who didn't know that Farfalle was bow-tie pasta?)
-3 boneless chicken breasts (You can use a roasted chicken or otherwise precooked chicken if you like.)
-1 small orange bell pepper and 1 small yellow bell pepper (or use green if you want... the orange and yellow are just "prettier")  sliced kind of thin, and then in half for bite sized pieces
-1 big fat jalapeno OR small serrano, chopped (this is optional, depending on how much "heat" you want)
-5 big cloves of garlic chopped (or depending on your taste)  (And to my dad and cooking "cheaters" like him... Yes, get the "real" garlic... not garlic salt... it makes a HUGE difference.)  ;-)
-1/4 small white or red onion, sliced
-2 full Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
-2 Tbsp. butter
-2 Tbsp. flour
-1-2 Tbsp. Tequila (you don't absolutely have to, but it gives it a little something extra.... don't worry, the alcohol cooks out)
-Juice of 1 small lime
-Drizzle of olive oil
-1 pint heavy cream (or half and half)
-1 cup+ shredded parmesan/romano/asiago (or just parmesan) cheese
-3/4 can chicken stock/broth

When you have all these ingredients together, you can get to chopping...

When everything is all ready to go, this recipe comes together really fast.  Yum, yum!

In a large saute pan over medium head, drizzle a little olive oil, and add the garlic and onion.  Cook until the garlic starts to turn brown. Then, add the chicken, butter, lime juice, cilantro and peppers.

Try to keep the ingredients close together so the flavors can mix.

Add the tequila and about half a cup of the chicken stock.  Let it reduce over medium high head, stirring occasionally (about five minutes).  Sprinkle the flour over the mixture to make it a paste.

Next, add about 3/4 of the pint of cream and about a quarter cup of the chicken stock.  When it starts to bubble, sprinkle the cheese on top and stir well.

About 1/2 teaspoon of good sea salt is also a good thing to add.

Add more cream and/or chicken stock depending on how thick or thin you like your sauce.  

After the cheese is thoroughly melted, mix well and serve over cooked pasta.

 I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this dish... SOOO delicious!!

SueAnn suggests you serve it with garlic Texas toast "since you shouldn't be counting calories or fat grams with this dish anyway... go all out with some buttery bread as well!"

It was a treat, and it was UH-mazing.  If you're looking for something different for dinner, I'd definitely give this a try sometime. 

Happy Hump Day!