Pesto

Mom and Aunt Beverly came over for dinner last night.  A little girls’ night at the house if you will. I made up a salad with the goods from our vegetable co-op and some Chicken Pesto Pasta. It was scrumptious. Very easy and full of flavor. HERE is what you use all of that basil on!

 

Pesto Pasta with Chicken, Arugula and Asparagus

1 lb pasta of your choice (but something short like penne)

1 jar sundried tomatoes, drained (reserve oil)

1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 2” pieces

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

½ c basil pesto

2-3 c baby arugula

Freshly grated or shaved Parmesan

 

In a large pot of boiling water, add some serious salt. Then add the pasta. Cook to al dente.

 

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat up a couple T of the sundried tomato oil from the jar on medium heat. Sauté the chicken until cooked through. Remove and set aside. Add a couple more T of the same oil to the pan and sauté the asparagus with some salt and pepper for a couple of minutes. Add in the sundried tomatoes and cook a few more minutes, until the asparagus is tender. Add the chicken back to the pan to soak of the flavors involved. Throw all of that into a bowl with the pasta (reserving ½ c pasta water). Now throw in the arugula and pesto. Toss it up real nice. If you need to thin out the pasta, that’s when you start adding  in the reserved pasta water, a little bit at a time. Don’t forget to check the salt level of the dish. My pesto was pretty strong on the salt due to a heavy hand on my part, so I didn’t need to add any salt. Yum. Yum.