Lark & Lola

I think we've harvested about 30 lbs of cherry tomatoes from our garden this summer. {Note, for next year, you don't need 15 plants of super sweet 100s growing. You'll have cherry tomatoes up to your eyeballs.} But when you garden your own food, you learn to absolutely hate wasting it. I went hunting for some good recipes to use our cherry tomatoes in and I found this one.

It was so delicious the first time we made it, I just had to share. The second time we made it, the pasta to sauce ratio wasn't quite right, so be sure not to add too much spaghetti if you make this! The sauce has all the flavor and it. is. yum. When cooked right, this dish packs a punch of lovely full summer flavor. Use fresh herbs, and don't skimp on the spices.

First thing is to marinate some chicken breast pieces in:
2 tsp. thyme, chopped
2 tsp. rosemary, chopped
Zest from one lemon
Juice from 1 small lemon
2T olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

I bought a package of chicken tender pieces, cut them up into bite sized chunks, and marinated it for several hours. Overnight would be awesome.

I also needed:
Parmesan cheese, grated
Fresh parsley
Chicken stock
1 package spaghetti/linguine/angel hair
Cherry tomatoes
Flour
Butter
Garlic
Fresh basil

When I was ready to start preparing the meal, I heated a drizzle of olive oil and sautéed the chicken until it was fully cooked through.

The marinade makes it super fragrant and it tastes delicious already. Wonderful spices to add to chicken!

I set my cooked chicken aside and kept it warm. Then I melted 1/4 cup of butter in the same pan, along with another splash of olive oil.

Once the butter was melted, I tossed in about 4 cloves worth of chopped garlic. Oh heavens! Did my house smell good or what?

After cooking the garlic in the butter for a couple minutes, stirring frequently, I added 2 tablespoons of flour.

I let that cook for a minute, then added 2 1/2 cups of chicken stock.
I let this sauce simmer for a while to reduce and thicken, stirring frequently.
Meanwhile, I started a pot of linguine. This would also be great with angel hair, I think, or regular old spaghetti. I like the linguine. I cooked the pasta somewhat al dente.

Once the sauce was thickened, I added my fragrant chicken back in, along with some chopped basil. Fresh basil, of course!
Now it's just full of all sorts of flavors.

When the spaghetti was fully cooked...

I added the chicken & butter & garlic & herbs & all things good sauce.

Topped with fresh grated parmesan cheese...

Finally, a chance to use just a handful of those wonderful cherry tomatoes.

Along with some fresh chopped parsley--now we're talking.

A good toss, and serve immediately. {Another mistake I made the second time I made this dish, I didn't serve it immediately.}

I loved all the flavors and it was even better the second day, when we ate it as leftovers after it had been in the fridge all night! My best advice, if you make this dish, is to maybe not use the whole package of pasta, don't thin down the flavor too much with too much pasta.

The reviews on the original recipe are just glowing too. This is quite a delicious dish, and it was a great way to use a FEW of the millions of cherry tomatoes we've grown this summer at the garden.

We served it to my parents last week when we had them over for my mom's birthday. Can I just say, some homemade crème brûlée is an awesome dessert to follow this meal?

Poor Paxton didn't get to have any.

If you find yourself drowning in cherry tomatoes, or would like a good summery pasta dish to cook before summer is over, try this one!



Cheers,
Heather