Penne with Blackened Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Sauce

There's this recipe that I found for Cajun Chicken Alfredo (from Guy Fieri) that I absolutely love and make a lot in my house.  I am now addicted to blackened chicken and the fun thing for me is that I get to break out my cast iron skillet!  I also stumbled across another recipe for a Tomato Basil Cream sauce on Pinterest and I thought - well, what if I sort of combined the two together?  It was genius, I must say.  What a great tasting dish!!  At the end, when you combine the chicken and that blackening spice gets all throughout the pasta, it is heavenly.  Salty and spicy and delicious!  Both dishes that I took inspiration from contain a lot of the same ingredients...sun dried tomatoes, white wine...but with my dish, I get to use sauce from a jar and it makes it super, super simple without losing any of the flavor.  

A tip - watch out for that blackening seasoning!  Make sure you have some sort of ventilation throughout your house (open window, ceiling fan, oven fan) because it always makes the air in my house smoky and spicy and we all end up coughing and sneezing.  :)

If you are using a well-seasoned cast iron skillet to blacken your chicken, you can omit the oil.  If not, just be sure to use a heavy-bottomed skillet and follow the instructions below.  Pound out the chicken breast so they are pretty thin and it will really help to blacken without over cooking.  I actually just took one really big chicken breast and sliced it through the middle so I had two thin pieces.  Also, serve with good bread...you don't want to waste a drop of this sauce!   

    

Serves 4

1/2 pound dried Penne

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, pounded thin

1/2 cup blackening seasoning

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 15 oz jar of Sun-Dried Tomato Alfredo sauce (Classico is the only brand that I found that makes this)

1/4 cup white wine

2 Roma tomatoes, diced

1 tablespoon dried basil

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook Penne according to directions.  Meanwhile, heat skillet or cast iron skillet over medium high heat.  Dredge chicken in blackening seasoning and blacken both sides of chicken, cooking all the way through.  Slice strips on the bias and set aside.  

While the chicken is cooking, pour Alfredo sauce into a medium saucepan.  Pour wine into sauce jar, replace cap and shake well.  Add wine mixture into saucepan.  Add tomatoes and basil and cook until heated through.  

Toss with pasta and add the Parmesan cheese.  Top with blackened chicken and serve as is or stir chicken throughout (I recommend doing it this way!).  

Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-dried Tomatoes

This recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine, which I love.  Simple, easy recipes, and I end up referring to it a lot.  I keep a binder with the recipes I have collected from Everyday Food over the years and I really do end up making a lot of them over and over again. 

This dish has become a staple in our house.  Everyone loves it!  It feeds 4 and is perfect when you have company.  Even if it's just us, I'll make the full 4 serving portion so we have leftovers for the next day.  

Cheesy, baked goodness!  I love that the top gets a crispy crust from the Parmesan cheese and bread crumb topping.  Incredible.  

I added a little spice to this by cooking the chicken in McCormick's Spicy Grill Seasoning.  I can't tell you how often I use that spice to cook chicken.  So good to always have on hand.  Another couple of notes...I typically use 2% milk, but you could substitute it for other milks or even half & half.  I've used them all with similar results.  I also use sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil and always make sure to add some of the oil to the sauce for extra flavor.  

Serves 4

Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-dried Tomatoes

1/2 pound Penne

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 tablespoon Spicy Grill seasoning 

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour, plus 1 tablespoon

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups milk 

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, in oil, diced 

1 cup mozzarella

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 Italian seasoning bread crumbs 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 2-quart baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Cook your Penne in a large pot of boiling salted water about 3 minutes short of al dente.  Drain and return to pot.  

Dice chicken into bite size pieces and toss with grill seasoning.  Cook until cooked throughout.  

In a large heavy pot or dutch oven, melt butter over medium.  Add flour and garlic, whisk and cook for 1 minute.  Gradually add milk while whisking and bring to a simmer, whisking frequently until sauce thickens, about 6-8 minutes.  Add tomatoes, cook for 1 minute.  Take off heat and add mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan.  

Add chicken and pasta to sauce and season with salt and pepper.  Pour mixture into baking dish and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and bread crumbs.  Bake for about 25 minutes until golden and bubbling.