Sunday, January 18, 2009

Homemade

So, M and I are doing the Clean Eating diet (which is NOT a diet, but a WAY OF LIFE. Whatever. I've tried them all...) But I love to cook and this recipe tried to be labor intensive. It is a pasta dish, so I was immediately intrigued. Anything pasta makes me happy.

Chicken Rotini with Homemade Roma Tomato Pasta Sauce

6 lean chicken breasts
1 T. Olive Oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1/2 c. chopped fresh basil
2 tsp dried oregano leaves
4 cloves of garlic, passed through a garlic press (I'm using minced)
8 roma tomatoes chopped
1 medium sweet potato baked (Cut it in half, drizzle it with olive oil and place halves face down on a cookie sheet. It took an hour at 350.)
1/4 c. chicken broth
10 oz. whole grain rotini pasta

Cut chicken breasts into thin strips. (I bought the kind already cut up for stir fry and then sliced it up even more. Raw meat is GROSS!) Heat olive oil, add onion, carrot and celery until soft but not brown. Add garlic and herbs and continue cooking 2-3 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and the pulp of the sweet potato along with the chicken broth. Add chicken strips and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover tightly and simmer for 20 minutes. Cook the pasta al dente and mix with the sauce.

Um. Super good. But you totally could use canned tomatoes. Just saying. And in the future, I'd probably pre-cook the chicken and shred it before adding it to the sauce. I didn't like the end texture of it. Plus, this would be just as tasty without the chicken and I might consider adding black beans to it instead for some protein.