Part IV Budget Meals: Grilled Chicken Florentine Pasta

Today’s recipe is the 4th in my series on budget meals adapted from the September issue of Cooking Light.  This pasta dish cost more to make than the other three recipes I’ve made, but still came in at just $8.47.  That’s still a bargain since this makes 4 generous portions.

One thing that keeps this recipe affordable is that it only calls for 12 ounces of chicken breast.  Whenever my grocery store puts boneless chicken breasts on sale, I always stock up.  So the chicken in my recipe was only 1.89 a pound.  The pasta was also on sale for $0.89 for a 1 pound box.  I only needed half of the box, so it was just $0.45 for this recipe.  The most expensive item in the recipe was the parmesan, but I splurged and bought parmesan reggiano which has a richer flavor than regular parmesan.  Since it would add so much flavor to the dish and since I was still under $10.00 for the whole recipe, I figured it was a good splurge.

So, yes, it was inexpensive to make, but did it taste good?  The answer to that is yes!  It’s really delicious and easy to make.  It takes about 45 minutes to make since you have to grill the chicken first.  If you had some leftover grilled chicken on hand, you could put this meal together in the time it takes to cook the pasta because the sauce comes together in almost no time at all.

I definitely recommend this recipe and hope that you’ll give it a try!

Grilled Chicken Florentine Pasta

• 12 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 8 oz linguine
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 4 oz fresh baby spinach
• salt and pepper to taste

Grill chicken on a preheated grill or grill pan until cooked through.  Thinly slice chicken, set aside.

Cook linguine according to package instructions.  Drain, toss with about 1 tsp olive oil, cover and keep warm.

Chop garlic and measure out the rest of the ingredients.  Place all of the ingredients right next to the stove because the sauce cooks up very quickly.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook for about 1 minutes.  Add flour and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Slowly whisk in milk and chicken stock, a little at a time, until it’s all incorporated.  Bring mixture to a bubble and cook for about 3 minutes, until sauce thickens.  Stir in cheese, salt and pepper.

Add spinach and stir until spinach wilts.

Stir in chicken and pasta, coating well with the sauce.

Serve immediately.

ENJOY!

Shared at these great blogs:

Gooseberry Patch

The Country Cook

Basilmomma