Chicken Pasta

This was another dish I had to have to recipe for after my girlfriend Kelly made us this when we brought Jack home from the hospital last January. I finally got around to making this pasta dish. It seems harder than it looks. I seriously thought my friend picked this up at a restaurant! It reminded me of Suparossa.

Ingredients:
chicken breast
flour
2 bags/packages of sweet grape tomatoes
6 - 8 Garlic cloves (cracked but the skin left on--I smash them with the side of my knife so the skin is cracked but the clove, for the most part, is intact...you will eventually remove the skins after baking... )
olive oil
1/2 lb to 3/4 lb pasta (I usually use rigatoni--the sauce sticks well to them)
basil (I typically buy the small packages of basil from Jewel by the fresh herbs and usually use the whole package but that can be adjusted to your taste)
parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. In a large baking dish place tomatoes and cracked garlic with skins on. Coat the tomatoes and garlic with extra virgin olive oil (maybe 5-6 tbs). Make sure the garlic is covered well with the oil so it doesn't burn easily. Generously coat them with salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes.

In the meantime, cook the pasta al dente and before draining, reserve 2 laddlefuls (about 1 1/2 c) of hot pasta water and put to the side in a bowl.

I coat boneless skinless chicken breasts in flour and cook them in butter (about 2 tbs) in a large saucepan.

Once the tomatoes are done, remove them from the oven. Take the roasted garlic out of the skin and place them into a medium size mixing bowl. They should be soft and mash them up with a fork to make almost a paste. Add in the reserved pasta water. Next add in the roasted tomatoes and, using a potato masher, mash the tomatoes up and mix together with the garlic paste.

I then return everything to the large saucepan I cooked the chicken in--the pasta, and sauce. Mix together. Salt and pepper to taste. Take a good amount of parmesan cheese and add it to the chicken pasta. I like my sauces cheesier so I probably add 3/4 c to 1 cup. Start off with less if you like and add more to taste---it's really about what you like. The cheese helps thicken up the sauce too. Heat together for a few minutes and at the very end, add in the fresh basil (I usually add 1/3 c maybe??).

Recipe courtesy of Kelly Lezza.