Chicken and Pasta Toss

                 
                  My 11 year old's favorite television personality is Alton Brown.  For those of you that don't know, he is a food television host on Food Network.  She enjoys watching repeats of his show "Good Eats".  I attribute to him her love of sushi.  My husband and I are not fish eaters.  We would never stop our children though from partaking in a new food though.  Well, she watched his show on sushi over and over.  She would recite facts to me about sushi and fish that she learned and I would try and sound interested.  Well a year ago she begged for us to let her try sushi.  Now, up until now she had never had seafood, aside from tuna salad.  So my husband and I said fine, that if she wanted to try sushi we weren't going to stop her.  She loved it, and still does.

                  She recently watched him make chicken piccata.  She asked me to make chicken piccata just as I was chopping chicken for another dish.  Not wanting to disappoint my daughter, I adjusted my plans.   I would create a lemon hinted sauce with pasta and broccoli. The dish got me two thumbs, so I thought I would share it.  It was relatively quick to make.



Ingredients

1. 1 lb spaghetti
2. 1 bunch of broccoli florets
3. 1 lb chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
4. 3 Tbl flour
5. 1 Tbl olive oil
6. 1 Tbl butter
7. 2 Tbl fresh lemon juice
8. 1/2 cup chicken broth
9. 1 tsp salt
10. 1/4 tsp pepper

 
Cook the pasta to al dente.  When it is cooked, just toss it with a bit of olive oil, about 2 Tbl.

Steam the broccoli until it is just cooked.  I hate overcooked mushy broccoli.  I placed it with 1/2 cup of water in a bowl and microwaved it for 5 minutes.

Combine the chicken pieces with 2 Tbl of flour.

Heat up 1 Tbl of oil in a frying pan on high heat.  Add the chicken and saute until the chicken browns.

Lower the heat to medium low.  Push some chicken over to the side and add 1 Tbl of butter and 1 Tbl of flour.  Stir them together.  Stir for a minute.

Add the lemon juice and chicken broth.  Stir and let the liquid come to a boil.  Add the seasonings.  The sauce will thicken up upon cooking.

Combine the pasta, broccoli, and chicken in a large dish. I should add that I did not use all of the pasta.  I saved some for another dish.  Use as much pasta as you want.

This is by means not a fancy dish.  It is a great pantry dish since most of the ingredients are probably at hand.  You can also leave the chicken out.  Make the sauce and combine it with vegetables and pasta.