Recipe | Chicken Pasta in Chunky Tomato Sauce

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Sister started working again, so it's rare for us to spend time together, and last Saturday (her day off at work), she asked if I could cook her a pasta dish. Well, she is one big pasta lover, so I decided to give in to her wishes, after all, she is my baby sister.

We haven't had the chance to do grocery shopping yet, and the only meat I could use for the pasta was the chicken breast. The only time I get to eat pasta with chicken is when I eat at KFC - whenever I cook pasta, I always go for the usual choice of protein: pork, beef, and tuna. I wasn't sure how the dish will turn out, but I still gave it a shot.


Chicken Pasta in Chunky Tomato Sauce
{serves 2 - 3}

Ingredients

• 125g pasta, cooked per package directions
• 150g boiled chicken breast (flaked), stock reserved
• 1 pouch Clara Ole Chunky Tomato Sauce
  
• 1 small onion, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium sized carrot, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• a dash of Italian Seasoning
• 1 - 2 tablespoons Olive Oil (pure)
  
• grated cheese (optional)

How to Cook:

• Heat olive oil and saute onions and garlic. Just before the garlic turns light brown, add in the chicken and mix.
  
• Add a little of the reserved stock (three tablespoons will be enough), then the tomato sauce. Let it simmer for a few minutes, then add in the carrots.
• Add in a dash of Italian Seasoning followed by the salt and pepper. Simmer for about a minute then adjust the seasoning according to your preference.
• Toss in the cooked pasta and serve.

I didn't add some grated cheese to my plate of pasta because I try to save myself from additional calories, but since the tomato sauce I used is three-cheese flavored, I still could taste a hint of cheese into it. My sister used cheese spread (Chiz Whiz) on her pasta to add some creaminess into it.

By the way, I cooked the chicken first - I added a pinch of salt and pepper as well as a minuscule amount of onion and garlic just so the chicken already had some flavor prior to cooking the sauce. I set aside a little of the stock for the sauce, while the remaining stock (strained) I used in cooking the pasta, with additional water and salt, of course.

Whenever I cook pasta, I save gas by turning off the heat halfway through the process (about 4 - 5 minutes after I added the pasta into the boiling water), and let the remaining heat cook the pasta. Of course, this is quite a risky move... I have to check the pot every once in a while just to stir the pasta and making sure I don't leave it too long. I am sure not everyone will agree to it, but I can get al dente pasta without using much gas, so I am okay with this.

Now that I've said goodbye to pork and I don't allow myself to eat much beef, using chicken for my pasta dishes is going to be something I might do a lot from now on.