Spicy Pesto Chicken and Pasta

I took a couple of days off from cooking new recipes. Cooked an all time favorite one night and had Spaghetti O's the next. I know, weird right?

Tonight I made a quick little diddy that was ever so good. I'm not a HUGE fan of pesto. I can take it very small quantities. Usually the basil flavor is almost over powering to me. I had some pesto from scratch for some other recipe a couple of months ago. Instead of tossing the left over pesto I froze it. A little bit of pesto goes a long way in my book.

So when I found this recipe that was a spiced up version of pesto I thought I had to certainly give it a try. I only made a few adjustments to the recipe for simplicity and because of the EWWW factor.

Spicy Pesto Chicken and Pasta
Serves 2

• 1/4 package Uncooked farfalle (bow tie) pasta (didn't have bow tie pasta so I used penne)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons Olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon Hot chili paste
• 1/4 pound Skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into 1" pieces
• 1 tablespoon and 1.5 tsp Prepared Basil pesto
• 2 tablespoons Grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons Chopped cilantro

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place farfalle pasta in the pot, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Mix in the chili paste and chicken. (Jenn Note: I didn't add the chili paste here. I cooked the chicken first, then when it was cooked I added the chili paste and cooked it for about 30 seconds before adding the pesto from the next step.) Cook and stir chicken 10 minutes, or until evenly browned and juices run clear.

3. Toss the cooked farfalle, pesto, Parmesan cheese, and cilantro (Jenn Note: This is the EWWW factor. I just couldn't mix cilantro with pesto. Ick. If you do, let me know how it was.) into the skillet, and continue cooking just until heated through.