Day #4 of Pioneer Woman Dinner Week is Cajun Chicken Pasta. A couple years ago I experienced Yats in Indianapolis, Indiana and have been hooked on cajun food since then. Yats has an amazing Chili Cheese Etouffe that I highly recommend. I know I’ll be making that again so I’ll post it when I do.
As with most cajun recipes, the first step is cut, chop, and dice up all the ingredients. The holy trinity of cajun recipes are green pepper, onion, and celery. However, this recipe mixed it up and swapped the celery for tomatoes. I was working with a dull knife tonight so it wasn’t super fun, but I like getting all the prep work done first so it’s just combining, cooking, and stirring after that.
I used a single chicken breast from the whole chicken I dismantled on Sunday and added shrimp since that’s also a staple in most cajun recipes. Mmmmm… my mind often drifts back to a jambalaya pasta I had at the Yard House in Fort Lauderdale, FL about a year ago. It was the BEST jambalaya I’ve ever had.
Anyway, enough daydreaming, back to dinner. The garlic was diced by hand, although I think I prefer the garlic press. Not sure if there’s any difference in the results. Definitely use fresh garlic though, not that powdery stuff.
The meat is cooked first, on high, in some butter and oil.
Once that’s done we set it aside for later.
Now it’s the veggies turn, peppers, onions (if you’re using them), and garlic goes in first. After the peppers have browned and softened add the tomatoes for a short stint.
The sauce is white wine, chicken stock (hand made, from the same whole chicken), and heavy cream. It’s supposed to thicken up but I struggle with that part. Then you combine everything together in the pan and season to taste.
Here’s the final plated version that we both devoured. This was about a 45 min recipe I would say. I couldn’t decide if noodles or rice would be better here. I’m a fan of my cajun food on rice so I’ll probably do that next time. Rice helps soak up the extra sauce too.
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