Bacon-Chicken Farfalle
- 12 OZ farfalle
- 1/3 LBS finely diced bacon (It's easier to do if you freeze the bacon first and thaw it out after cutting.)
- 3/4 LBS cubed chicken breast (1/2 in.)
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 6 TBS butter
- 1 1/2 Cups white wine (If you don't cook using wine, I've listed a good substitute recipe below.)
- 2 TBS crushed red pepper
- 1 1/4 TBS chopped garlic
Cook bacon until it won't kill you on a 10-14 in. skillet. Remove bacon from skillet and replace it with olive oil. Heat olive oil, garlic, and red pepper to medium heat or slightly lower. Stir and allow some of the flavor to cook out of the garlic, depending on how strong you want that part of the flavor to be. Add bacon and chicken. Cook this mixture with the lid on for 5-10 minutes to make sure that the chicken is safe. This is a good time to start the pasta. Remove the lid and add wine and butter. Crank the skillet's temperature up as high as it can go and cook for 2-3 minutes while stirring. Turn the heat off if the pasta is finished. If it's not, leave it on low.
When the pasta's finished cooking, drain it and put the contents of the skillet into the pot. Add the pasta back in. Cook on medium to medium low (same temperature as you used for the topping) while stirring. No need to get too vigorous with the stirring. You're just making sure nothing sticks to the bottom. Cook until most of the oil is gone from the bottom of the pan (the pasta should be pretty well coated though) and serve.
Farfalle isn't necessary, it's just a good match for the cubed chicken. I wouldn't go with long loodles, but something like penne would work fine. I would like to note that this recipe smells rather odd, and I wasn't going to eat any of it until my family started enthusing about how delicious it was. My poor guinea pigs. They will eat anything I make them. This recipe fed four of us, but it's probably closer to a "feeds 6" recipe. Also worth mentioning: my parents are making me cook for them once a week now, on pain of eviction, because of this recipe. I kinda don't like the idea (it smells suspiciously like work), but I suppose it'll be motivation to make new recipes more often.
White Wine Substitute:
1 Cup apple juice
1/4 Cup raspberry apple juice (That makes it a 9:1 apple to raspberry ratio, for those who don't have the specific juices.)
2 TSP vinegar
1 1/2 TBS balsamic vinegar (If you use more than this, whatever you're making tastes like balsamic vinegar. I often use less than this.)
You can play with that mixture as much as you need to until you get a flavor you like. To change to red wine I switch out half a cup of apple juice for red grape juice and use less balsamic vinegar.
Add that one to your list for Baconfest, kids.
