Do you ever get the hankering for something rich and creamy, but don’t want to splurge on an everyday meal? I do, but I feel like those rich high calorie sauces should be saved for special occasions or out at your favorite Italian restaurant. So without compromising taste or my ideals, I came up with this and it was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. 😉
Let me know what you think, I hope you like it!
Oh, and I made this is a casserole form, because its easier for me when feeding my kiddos, but you can very easily make this as a simple sauce over chicken breasts.
Because its a base for every delicious dish, I started with about 2-3TBSp of Extra virgin Olive Oil, diced onions(disregard the few small onion peels in my diced onions…you don’t see them any way, right? I don’t know why I even brought it up! 😉 ) and a pinch of salt and some fresh ground pepper.
What do you think about my new beautiful handmade pepper mill? My dad made it! One of his hobbies is woodworking, and he recently turned this hobby, into a small but budding endeavor into the local art scene. He has started selling beautiful wooden bowls and these lovely peppermills! I keeping telling him he should sell them online, but so far he is not taking my advice. 😉 I will let you know when I can convince him enter the fun and exciting community in this world-wide web!
I let my onions cook and caramelize a bit, then tossed in my cubed chicken breast.
Meanwhile, I am cooking my whole wheat pasta. When it starts to soften, I toss in some frozen cauliflower to cook. Tip: IF I am going to bake a vegetable right into a casserole, I will often just toss it in with the pasta while its cooking, it is a huge time saver (and one less thing to clean later). Again cooking until it’s Al’ dente
While the chicken is cooking, add some white wine and chicken broth, allow this to cook for about 5 min to allow for the alcohol to cook off. After the chicken is fully cooked, add the juice of one lemon.
Now for the cream and basil part, in a small bowl add 1 cup of plain yogurt (greek or traditional, I used tradition because that’s what we had), along with fresh garlic, basil and a bit of oregano. Stir to combine.
Turn the heat off and stir the yogurt into the chicken. The heat from the chicken and the hot pasta will keep ensure its hot without overheating the yogurt.
I also added about 1/4cup of shredded Italian cheese to make it a bit creamier. But you can skip this step. 🙂
Mix the chicken with the pasta and pour into a prepared baking dish. Sprinkle another 1/4cup of cheese on top. As an after thought I quartered about 2 cups of cherry tomatoes and tossed them on top. I love Roasted tomatoes!
Bake for about 20min until the cheese is melted and the tomatoes are soft and slightly roasted.
Yum! Enjoy!
- 1Lb Chicken breast
- 2-3Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 cup diced Onion
- Pinch of Course Sea Salt
- Generous amount of fresh ground pepper
- ⅓ cup White wine
- 1 cup low sodium Chicken broth
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 bag (12oz) frozen Cauliflower (organic if possible)
- 1 cup Plain Yogurt
- 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 heaping Tbsp fresh basil, minced (can use dried)
- 1 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced ( can use dried)
- ½ cup shredded Italian cheese (optional)
- 2 cups fresh cherry tomatoes (optional), quartered
- 14oz Whole Wheat pasta
- Add EVOO to large skillet with onion. Seaon with salt and pepper. Caramalize for 5-7mins, while cubing chicken.
- Add Cubed chicken to skillet. Stir and toss with onions. Add wine and Chicken broth. Cook until chicken is cooked through. Add juice of lemon and stir
- Cook Pasta until Al dente. Add Frozen Cauliflower to pasta water during last 5 min of boiling.
- In smaller bowl, add yogurt, basil, garlic and oregano. Stir to combine
- Turn off heat to skillet and add yogurt to chicken. Stir.
- Add ¼cup cheese to sauce and stir to combine.
- Combine pasta and chicken mixture in a prepared baking dish
- Sprinkle for with remaining ¼ cup of cheese and cherry tomatoes.
- Bake for 20min, until cheese is melty and tomatoes are soft and slightly roasted.
- Enjoy!
