The days are getting nice enough to eat outside. We have a table in the backyard under a large tree by the little fishpond. It has a glass top that we’ve kept in the garage because of falling branches. I don’t think we got it out at all last year. But this year, with a little less distraction on the weekends during this quarantine season, Kim took some time to clean it up and put the table together.
We also got a delivery from the market today. So I had a little more freedom in terms of improvising what to cook for dinner. With some old tomatoes and half a bell pepper sitting around, I decided to make some tossed penne with chicken and tomatoes.
Normally when I buy chicken breasts at the butcher counter it takes two to make a pound. But at other markets, the prepackaged chicken breasts must come from giant chickens because they are often gigantic. Today’s grocery delivery had a single breast that was nearly two inches thick and weighed a pound without its other half. I decided to make Penne with Chicken and Tomatoes.
1 lb chicken
1/2 orange bell pepper
3 cloves garlic
3 roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1 tsp tomato paste
Dice 1 lb chicken breast, sprinkle with salt, pepper, olive oil, toss around in bowl, then saute in a pan with hot oil for a few minutes until cooked. Remove from pan, add 1 Tbl butter and 1/2 chopped orange bell pepper. Let cook a minute or two until starting to soften, add the garlic, cook for 30 seconds more, then add the sun dried tomatoes, the diced tomatoes, and tomato paste. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the penne and stir. Add some pasta water if needed. Season with salt and pepper. Grate some Parmesan cheese over the top and stir it in, then serve with more Parmesan grated on top.