Chicken Breast (boneless, skinless, I used one whole breast (2 very large pieces in a normal pkg, cut in bite size pieces)
Vegetable and Olive Oil
Flour (optional)
Salt & Pepper
1-2 cups Chicken Broth
1 cup dry white wine (I used Chardonnay)
Sliced Mushrooms
Asparagus cut in bite size pieces
Capers (about a tablespoon or more, drained…optional)
2-3 Garlic cloves, minced
Butter (2-3 T)
3-4 Lemons (zest all of them, set aside, then juice them set aside, if you love tart lemon flavor, add more of both zest & juice)
Fresh Parsley, chopped (about a cup)
Penne Pasta (1lb pkg)
Parmigiana Reggiano (Parmesan) Cheese
Prep veggies on clean cutting board and set aside. Use a separate knife and board or make sure you are done with veggies before cutting up raw chicken. Salt and Pepper chicken and set aside.
Mix about 1/2 cup flour (or more) with more salt and pepper and place in a large shallow bowl. Dredge about half of the chicken pieces while warming up a Dutch oven.
Heat Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add enough vegetable oil to pan to cover the bottom, watch closely and before oil smokes but pan is very hot, start adding chicken a little at a time (in one layer). Brown one side without turning, then stir to turn so other side is lightly browned. Set aside in clean bowl while repeating with the other half of raw chicken. Add more oil (I used a combo of vegetable and olive oil in this second batch of browning).
As soon as chicken is all browned and removed from pan, add about 2 tablespoons of butter and the sliced mushrooms, stir as needed to brown lightly. Then add asparagus (more butter if needed) and sauté just enough to begin to brown but still crisp. Add minced garlic to taste. Sauté briefly then remove all the veggies, set aside.
Add cup of white wine and bring to a boil scraping up the crusty bits on the bottom of the pan. After a few minutes add the chicken broth and bring to boil, stirring to combine. Add browned (but not fully cooked) chicken pieces, half of the lemon zest and half of the lemon juice, stir to combine. Cover with a heatproof lid. Place the Dutch oven in a preheated oven set at 275 or 300 degrees F for about 30 minutes.
While chicken is cooking in the oven, cook your Penne Pasta according to pkg directions. Don’t overcook. I have a pasta pot so I can cook at the beginning of the recipe and when pasta is done I turn off the heat and pull the strainer with pasta out and tilt the strainer over the hot water so it doesn’t continue cooking, then drop it back in the hot water just before adding it to my completed chicken and veggies at the end.)
Remove Dutch oven to the cooktop, being careful as you remove hot lid (I kept a pot holder on the handle after I removed the lid to remind myself it was hot).
Stir in cooked veggies, add more butter for richness, capers, the rest of the lemon zest and lemon juice and stir to combine. Over medium heat of cooktop, cook and stir to warm up veggies.
Add cooked, drained pasta, some of the pasta water and parsley, stir to combine. If there isn’t much sauce in the bottom of pan add more pasta water or more chicken broth.
Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.
TJ Talks 