PASTA WITH CHICKEN AND GREEN PEAS

                      

Here is a great pasta dish to start off the week.  I have always admired the way “true Italian” home chefs treat pasta.  It is a backdrop for featured flavors but more importantly, the pasta itself is the star of the show.  I hope to begin making homemade pasta very soon.  I am very excited about the prospect of tasting the tender and flavorful pasta that can only be made from scratch.  Another very interesting thing to me is  the revelation that garlic is not always an automatic ingredient in Italian cooking.   Garlic is used in some regions but not necessarily others in Italy—which I appreciate so much since I have a  strong food sensitivity to garlic (both to eat and to smell).  Two things can be counted on in great Italian home cooking----that the freshest and most flavorful ingredients will be used and that preparing food for the family is a  labor of love.

Ingredients:

 4 cups of Chicken (boneless, skinless), cut into chunks

2 T. olive oil

1 t. butter

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

½ cup celery, chopped

2 T. olive oil

¼ cup bacon, cooked and chopped (use prosciutto if you prefer)

2 cups tomatoes, chopped

2 cups green peas, fresh or frozen

1 box of angel hair pasta, cooked al dente (reserve pasta water for use if needed)

1 to 2 cups of cheese of your choice (use freshly grated parmesan reggiano and/or grated Italian cheese blend).

Instructions:

*Saute chicken chunks in the olive oil and butter until fully cooked, set aside.

* In a large pan, saute onion, bell pepper, and celery in 2 T. olive oil until almost translucent.

*Combine cooked chicken and cooked vegetables in the large pan.

*Add bacon, tomatoes, green peas.

*Cook pasta (do not rinse) and add to chicken and vegetables. 

*Turn heat on medium and heat mixture gently.  Add pasta water until mixture is desired consistency.

*Add cheese, toss gently and serve.