Chicken, Penne and Broccolini – Leftover Remix

Written by Diana - January 11, 2012 4 Comments

Sometimes I am at odds with my son about dinner.  If it takes too long, he won’t bother.  If he has to read directions, he won’t bother.  If it takes too many pots and pans, he won’t bother. This isn’t to say he’s hopeless or can’t cook.  Slowly we are building up his repetoire and the meals he does cook are very delicious.  My method with him is to encourage him to try to experiment by adding different vegetables and herbs to a basic recipe.

This time we took some chicken from our roast chicken the other night and added pasta, some broccolini, a few herbs, smash some galic and voila – dinner is served.  This is a good college kid meal, you can change up the pasta, the veggies, substitute the oil with broth to make it a little lighter.  Swap the lemon with white or red wine vinegar for a little different.  We stood side by side at the stove cooking this dish.  When we were done, I asked my son if he thought he could do it all over again, and he assured me that he could.

Chicken, Penne and Broccolini – Leftover Remix
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Recipe type: Main
Author: Diana
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 45 mins
Serves: 6
This is a good throw together recipe. Tonight we used leftover
Ingredients
  • 1 lb pasta (penne)
  • Nice bunch Vegetables (broccolini)
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked meat (leftover chicken)
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • Herbs and other veggies (dried tomatoes, basil)
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Grated Parmesan
  • Olive Oil (or broth)
  • acid (lemon juice)
Instructions
  1. In a pasta pot, boil water and cook pasta. When the pasta is pre-al dente add in any fresh veggies that need to cook through.
  2. In a separate saute pan, heat up about 2 tbs of olive oil. Add in garlic to saute, along with the pre-cooked chicken and any defrosted frozen veggies or dried veggies. Stir around, heating up the chicken, veggies and herbs.
  3. Zest the lemon over the saute, then squeeze the juice over top.
  4. Drain the Pasta and Cooked broccolini, toss with the pan of saute.
  5. Grate parmesan over top, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Notes

I taught my son how to hold a lemon the cut end over the palm of your hand and squeeze the juice over your cupped hand to keep the seeds from going into the dish.

 

Read the Comments

4 Outstanding Responses to "Chicken, Penne and Broccolini – Leftover Remix"

  • http://www.globaldiscountdrugs.com/actos.html Actos

    Penne and Broccolini flavour is very nice.. this recipe is very good 

  • Juliana

    I like the idea of using leftover and some up with a new dish…this pasta dish looks delicious.
    Hope you are having a wonderful week Diana :-)

    • http://cookerati.com Diana

      Juliana, Leftovers make great second meals, don’t you think!

  • http://www.RobynsOnlineWorld.com Robyn’s Online World

    yummy yummy yummy!