Greek Pasta
I roasted a whole chicken last weekend using nothing but a drizzle of olive oil, a hearty sprinkling of oregano over the skin, and three halved garlic cloves in the cavity (but you can use rosemary and lemon instead). Then I removed all the meat once it had cooled, and added EVERYTHING that wasn’t meat into a soup pot with some trimmed beef fat and bone off a steak, carrots and celery stalks, a handful of pepper corns and three bay leaves, plus a squeeze of lemon juice. Boiled it for 1 hour, then strained it through a fine mesh sieve, and then one more time through a clean j-cloth. Best stalk I’ve ever made!! Seriously!!!
I believe it’s because my loving husband listens to my rants about Jamie Oliver’s Fowl Dinners and when I asked him to pick out a 3lb broiler, he chose an organic chicken. It was over twice the price ($13 vs $5) but wow did it taste great!!! We even drove by a chicken transport truck this week on the highway and he commented on how disturbed the birds seems by the rushing air (open vented cages stacked at least to form the size of a freight car). It’s great. Judi would be proud!
- 2 cups penne pasta
- ¼ cup each: butter and flour
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cups (or 14.5oz) chicken stock
- 3 cups cooked chicken (store bought rotisserie will do but is not the same)
- 1 jar artichoke hearts
- 1 cup feta, crumbled or cubed
- 1/3 cup each: sun dried tomatoes or roasted red pepper, chopped, and olives (we omitted these)
- 2 Tbs fresh parsley, minced (or 1 tsp dried)
Cook the pasta and drain. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and saute the onion until soft. Stir in the flour and cook one minute. Slowly add in the broth to form a roux. Bring to a boil; cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the cooked chicken and remaining vegetables. Heat through. Then mix in the cheese and penne. Sprinkle with parsley to serve.
On a side note, I added one halved a sweet onion and two whole red peppers when roasting my chicken. I then made just the roux separately, chopped the vegetables once cooled and added them along with the other ingredients at the end. Delicious!
