Garlic Chicken Linguine with Prosciutto

  GoodMan and I have an indentured servant...it's true!

GoodMan signed a 2-year cell phone contract for our 15-year-old granddaughter, Kaila. In exchange, she has agreed to work one Saturday per month at our house to pay for her unlimited mobile-to-mobile and unlimited text plan. The work around our house and yard are a nice benefit, but I think the thing I like best is being able to spend one full day per month with my teenage granddaughter.

  This past weekend Kaila was over to do her once-a-month cell-phone work. She helped me inside by vacuuming and making up the guest rooms for me. She also helped her grandpa outside with some yard work and car cleaning. I wanted to make something Kaila would like for dinner, and pasta is almost always a winner. This week I chose to make Garlic Chicken Linguine with Prosciutto. I saw a similar recipe on the Food Network website and decided to use ingredients I had in the house and adapt it to fit our tastes. Let me show you how I did it.

 These are some of the ingredients I gathered; 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 4 ounces of prosciutto (kind of like Italian bacon ~ but not as smoky), linguine pasta, fresh basil, roma tomatoes, leftover pico de gallo (which is mostly chopped tomatoes, but I needed to use it up. Next time I'll just use more tomatoes), fresh basil, and shredded Parmesan cheese.

I cut the prosciutto into bite size pieces.

I cut the chicken into bite size pieces and cooked it on top of the stove in a little olive oil ~ just until it had a little color. Then I took it off the stove and set it aside.

I got out 1/4 cup of minced garlic. Yep, that's right, 1/4 cup. You notice I got it out of a jar...the thought of peeling and mincing a quarter of a cup's worth of garlic did not appeal to me.

I put the garlic in the fry pan with a little olive oil. I made sure the garlic didn't burn (because it will taste really bitter if it gets too brown).

 See the pico de gallo I had left over? It is almost all chopped tomatoes. I decided to use the rest of that up and also chopped about 3 roma tomatoes. In the future, if I don't have pico de gallo to use up I'll just chop more tomatoes and maybe put a couple of drops of Tabasco or a pinch of cayenne pepper in.

I put the chicken back into the pan with the garlic and added the tomatoes and prosciutto. I let it cook for a couple of minutes until the tomatoes broke down and began making a sauce. It didn't seem saucy enough for me so I added about 1/4 cup of half and half. Meanwhile I had the linguine noodles cooking. When they were al dente, I drained them (reserving some of the hot pasta water) and put them in a pasta serving bowl.

 I cut the fresh basil by a chiffenade method, which means cutting them in long thin strips. I do this by laying the leaves together, rolling them up together and then slicing through them.

I added the basil and cooked everything together for just a few minutes. I still wanted more sauce so I took some of the pasta water I'd saved and mixed that in.  This recipe doesn't make a traditional tomato sauce, but the sauce was garlic-y, fresh tomato-y, and tasted really good. 

 I poured the garlic chicken sauce over the linguine and sprinkled shredded Parmesan cheese over the top and added a little fresh basil. When I put this on the table I put out more shredded Parmesan cheese for anyone who wanted more.

 I served this with a big piece of garlic cheese bread, and I had one happy little indentured servant!...She deserved it...She'd worked hard all day!

This my recipe for Garlic Chicken Linguine with Prosciutto

Adapted from the Food Network's recipe for Garlic Chicken Pasta

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped in bite sized pieces

4 ounces prosciutto, chopped in bite sized pieces

1/4 cup minced garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

5 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped (or use 3 tomatoes and 1 cup of pico de gallo)

pinch of cayenne pepper or two shakes of Tabasco sauce (omit if using pico de gallo)

1/4 cup fresh basil, chiffenade chop, divided

1/4 cup half and half

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 pound linguine noodles, cooked al dente 

1/2 cup pasta water

Put olive oil in a large fry pan heated over medium high heat. Cook chicken until lightly golden brown. Remove from pan and reserve.

Put garlic in the fry pan and warm, but do not burn.

Add the chicken back in, along with the prosciutto, tomatoes, cayenne pepper, and all but 1 tablespoon of the basil.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until everything is heated through and the tomatoes begin to break down. Add half and half and turn down to simmer.

Cook about 5 minutes. Add enough pasta water to make it "saucy" enough.

Pour chicken mixture over the cooked and drained linguine noodles in a large pasta bowl. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan and remainder of the fresh basil. 

Serve with additional Parmesan cheese on the side. 

What was the taste tester's bottom line? 

We really liked it! We enjoyed the prosciutto and the fresh tomatoes. In fact, I liked those flavors so much I think I would like this dish even without the chicken. Surprisingly, it was not super garlicy. I was concerned the garlic would be overpowering because the recipe called for 1/4 cup of garlic. Perhaps it was less strong because I used jar garlic instead of fresh? The next day we had it as leftovers for lunch and I noticed the garlic much more the second day. It is really nice to have a pasta dish without the traditional tomato sauce and without a heavy alfredo-style sauce. 

The bottom line: I want to make this again in the near future. I want to try it without the chicken and with even more garlic. We should have no fear of vampires with all that garlic! I think that will appeal to even my "indentured servant".