After the insanity of the Superbowl and getting back into the weekday grind, I am pretty tired. You? Also- WTH??? I thought Spring had come last week. It was in the 50’s and there were even purple crocus in bloom, hummingbirds in our fountain and daffodils budding up. Today it won’t get out of the mid-30’s. I know that some of you are rolling your eye’s but the 20’s and 30’s are VERY cold for Seattle. We are even looking at snow later this week…

With the business and the cold, I am all about hot soup for lunch. But for dinner, I just wanted a really easy dinner- but something that was still delicious. Oh, and something to warm me up please!?

Pasta is always one of the easiest fastest choices for weeknight dinner in my opinion. There are a million different choices for sauces and toppings. And pasta is totally working for my family right now since gluten free pasta makes everything Pia friendly. We have been using Trader Joes gluten free brown rice pasta, and I really have a hard time telling the difference. But obviously- you can use regular pasta too!

This particular dish is super garlicky and has a great bite of spice from the red pepper flakes. But the chicken, and sweet cherry tomatoes round out the flavor as well as the incredible freshness of the lemon juice and parsley. Totally delicious- probably most delicious served with a big glass of chilled white wine…

To make this pasta, this is what you do:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook to al dente according to package directions. Drain when finished cooking.
In a large sauté pan, add the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for about 1 minute.

Add the chicken breast and let cook for 1 minute and then flip to the other side. Add the white wine and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, stirring. Add the cherry tomatoes and put a lid on the pan. Let the chicken cook about 5 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan and keep cooking the tomatoes (with no lid). Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces.

Add the chicken back to the tomatoes and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes until the chicken is completely cooked through and some of the tomatoes are just beginning to burst.

Add the drained penne to the pan and gently mix.

Add the fresh parsley and the juice of one lemon to the pan.

Then season to taste with kosher salt. Mix well and serve immediately

1f5102e3ea77b22bb9ce6fd3d619226574433021933a8b3be2