Spicy and slightly creamy without being too heavy, loaded with vegetables. Personal recipe.
SERVINGS: 8 Cups CALORIES: Approx 450 per Cup EQUIPMENT: Saucepan, oven-safe pan for roasting veggies, pot for boiling pasta. Spider/strainer.
1 pound skinless chicken, thighs and breasts (your preference)
18-20 ounce package of tortellini, I use Buitoni. You can also use dry or frozen too.
2 T Olive Oil
3 T Butter
1/2 a medium (baseball sized) Onion, cut into 1/4″ or thinner slices. I use yellow onion.
1 large summer squash or zucchini, cut into 1/4″ slices/coins
2 oz of thinly sliced Poblano (1 small)
4 oz thinly sliced sweet Bell Pepper, any color (1 medium/large)
2 dried Cascabel chilis, blended to a powder or soaked and pureed*
3 t Cajun spice total
3 cloves Garlic, sliced/slivered
1/4 C White wine
1 C Chicken stock
1 C Heavy Cream
1 oz grated fresh Parmesan
1 t table salt plus salt for the pasta water
1/2 t black pepper
Parsley, peppers, ground chilis, grated parm for garnish. Chef’s Choice
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F/220 C. Put some water on the stove to cook the tortellini (or other pasta), bring it to a boil. In the oven safe saucepan, add your fresh Peppers, Onion, sliced Garlic and Squash coins. Toss with the 2T of Oil, making sure to ensure the bottom of the saucepan has a thin coating of oil while you do so. Bake the veggies for 12-15 minutes. You want them browned, hence the higher heat. If you want a spicier dish, add some cayenne pepper or more cajun seasoning to the veggies before you roast them.
Once the veggies are roasted, set the veggies aside to prepare the sauce and chicken. Melt the butter in the hot pan, season the Chicken with the Cajun Seasoning and grill the chicken in the pan on medium heat. Whether in slices or parts, your choice. Grilled the chicken to your liking but a char is better for this dish. Ensure it is cooked all the way through per USDA safety guidelines. I like to slice my chicken before cooking, it’ll cook faster and have more crispy bits that I enjoy. Once the chicken is cooked, put it aside, leaving the extra butter in the pan.
Set the heat to medium-high and add the White Wine and Chicken Stock. Cook the liquid down by about a quarter, stirring occasionally, getting those tasty charred veggie and chicken bits released from the bottom of the pan.
Get your Pasta into the pot of boiling, salted water.
Once the sauce is reduced, add the Heavy Cream and do the same, reducing the sauce again but by about half this time. Take the saucepan off the heat and add the grated Parmesan, stirring all the while. You’ll see around a cup and a half or so of sauce in the pan, slightly thickened. Add the dried or pureed chilis, salt, pepper. Taste it. If it needs more salt or pepper, now is the time to add more. Check your pasta, is it about ready? Once the sauce is seasoning to your liking, add the pasta, then the roasted veggies. The sauce will thicken slightly more after you add the pasta.
Gently toss. Garnish. Eat. Enjoy this Cajun Chicken Pasta!
*Chilis. Yes, you can use another type of dried chili, just pick your favorite pepper at the heat level you desire. Or no heat, just make sure it is dried. Cascabel chilis are mild to medium heat chilis, comparable to a spicy poblano. We use dried chilis to add a smoky element to the dish. A smoky dried pepper is required to get the flavor profile that takes this dish restaurant level delicious.
My favorite restaurant closed and it took me far too long to discover why all my attempts to make Cajun Chicken Tortellini weren’t right. It was the dried smoky chilis. Game changer! THIS is the recipe I was driven to find.
I do hope you love it as much as I do. Or at least the fact I left the story as a blurb at the end instead of wasting our time.
The End
