Cajun Chicken Pasta!

DINNER FAILURE! Okay, well, not so much failure in that it was edible and still tasted good, but the sauce went horribly wrong at one point and that SIMPLY WON'T DO.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room, shall we?  .. No, not that one.

WHO ARE YOU AND HOW DID YOU GET IN MY HOUSE?!?!?!

Ahem. Sorry. I meant spicy foods. Some people love'em. Some people hate'em. Some people love'em but can't eat them because they are, as they say, "supreme wussies". And some people have cast iron tongues and stomachs like some friends of mine and THEY BE CRAZY. But I digress.

Spicy foods. Awesome. Sean can't eat spicy foods much anymore because he is of the wussy breed, but that's alright. This dish was delightfully spicy and I would probably cut back on it a bit next time if only for Sean's benefit. He still loved it.

Now, this is yet another recipe from Pioneer Woman. I have a bit of a foodie crush on her, if you couldn't tell. She is truly a neat lady. My food never looks as amazing as hers does in the pictures though. I will make a roux that looks like hers one of these days! You'll probably see plenty of her in the future. Among other yummies. Oh delicious yummies, how you make my life happier. *heart*

On to the main attraction! I urge you to try this pasta, it was really tasty, and even with my major screw up, it still wound up being delicious.

Cajun Chicken Pasta A La Ree (adapted from Pioneer Woman's recipe)

• 3 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut Into Cubes
• 3 teaspoons Cajun Spice Mix, More To Taste
• 1 pound Fettuccine
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Green Bell Pepper, Seeded And Sliced
• 1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Seeded And Sliced
• 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 4 Roma Tomatoes, Diced
• 2 1/2cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 1 cup heavy cream (I used the leftover half and half I had from the bean casserole.)
• Cayenne Pepper To Taste
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• Salt To Taste
• Chopped Fresh Parsley, To Taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. I'm not always sure when to start my pasta so I usually start the water warming with the lid on while I begin a dish and when I think I'm about halfway through get it boiling so I can get the pasta in there sometime near the end of cooking. Timing is a tough thing to learn in cooking, takes EXPERIENCE! Anyway, don't forget to salt and not overcook your pasta, blablabla.

Your mis en place. That's a fancy term for having your stuff out and ready to go when cooking or baking. Also usually premeasured too. It's french and means "put in place". Oh, I'll put it in its place alright. IN MY BELLY!

Red pepper, green pepper, tomatoes and garlic. By the way, cutting tomatoes is really hard. I don't usually work with them unless they are canned and so it was pretty terrible. My dice was rather bad and it kind of contributed to another problem in the dish later.

This is your chicken.

This is your chicken covered in 1 1/2 teaspoons of cajun seasoning. Sprinkle and mix around to coat.

Now, something important to note is that you need to check that your cajun seasoning has salt in it. If not, you'll want to lightly salt your chicken as well. If it contains salt, don't go too crazy, if you're looking for more heat you can always add more cayenne later. I wound up using the full amount of Zatarain's and it was fine.

Melt 1 tablespoon of oil and butter in a heavy skillet. Now, Ree's recipes always use cast iron or whatever and they always get nice brown bits and stuff, but I use a big nonstick skillet and I can't brown or get brown bits to save my life usually. MY SAUCES DON'T HAVE BROWN BITS, I'M SO ASHAMED.

Ehh the original recipe says to add it in small batches, I guess to brown it more evenly and gave small cooking times, but I really just cranked the heat to high and tossed all the chicken in.

Then I left the heat on high and didn't touch them for awhile as they cooked, letting them brown up on each side. Don't leave them alone, don't burn your chicken. It makes us all cry a little inside.

Once your chicken is cooked and browned, remove it to a plate and set aside. Oh baby look at that brown chicken. THAR BE FLAVOR!

Melt the remaining oil and butter in your pan and watch that baby sizzle because it is very hot.

LOOK AT THOSE BUBBLES. That's how you know good things are happening. Also that your stovetop is going to be covered in splatters and cleaning is going to suck later. Hooray!

Then add your peppers and garlic in and sprinkle the remaining cajun seasoning right on top as you cook them. This is where you're supposed to cook them over high heat for a minute or two to caramelize them as quickly as possible, but since I was missing plenty of onions in mine, I feared for the safety of my garlic as it bubbled away in the oil. I cooked for as long as I could stand before panicking and adding the tomatoes.

Sadly, my tomatoes were so poorly diced and small that they basically kind of began to melt away into some sort of tomato pulp. It's okay, it happens. I am an eternally imperfect person.

We're meeeeeltiiiiing!!

After your tomatos and veggies have cooked for a few minutes, remove them to the plate with your chicken.

Now, if this was a normal person cooking, their pan would be covered in brown and stuff from the chicken, but mine wasn't. However, while I was removing the veggies, the tomato pulp browned up and gave me.. FAUX BROWN BITS. Add in your chicken broth! Cook on high for 3-5 minutes while you scrape the bottom of your pan to remove all the brown bits.

Oh look, it looks just like the real thing. Ah whatever, flavor is flavor.

Reduce heat to medium low and add your cream, stirring/whisking constantly. Cook sauce over medium low until it starts to bubble and thicken. Taste and add your spices. It should be spicy!

This is wear MY version of this recipe starts to fall apart. I don't think I cooked that long enough to make it bubbly. I'm pretty sure I just had a brain fart and after about a minute of the chicken broth being in the pan, turned it down. By not allowing it to get hot before adding the cream, my mixture never came up to temperature to bubble quietly on medium low heat, and in an attempt to get it to bubble more, I turned my heat up higher and that was my downfall. Cream does not like higher heat.

My cream curdled. Yes, I know, the shame. However, while it looked bad, it still tasted just fine. It never wound up thickening though, but I worked it out in the end. ANYWAY.

Once your sauce is bubblin away, add your veggies and chicken back in. You'll notice a delightful colored juice has pooled on the bottom of your plate. Don't miss adding that back in, ohhh the flavors.

Cook for another few minutes, or until it's thick enough for your likening. Remember, it won't ever get THICK thick so don't bother trying. Your pasta will drink it all up anyway.

Ewwwww. Curdled. Oh well, next time I'll pay more attention.

Pasta! Drain it, yo.

Add it to your skillet!

And mix it up! I let mine sit for a good 10 or 15 minutes and it soaked up a looooot of the liquidy sauce. Cover with chopped fresh parsley if you are smart enough to not forget to buy it while you're shopping like I did!

Oooooh. Pretty. And soooo good. Don't let the cream scare you, I just really made a mistake. At least it turned out good to eat still!

Don't be afraid of spicy foods, they are your friend. Well, usually. Don't quote me on that.