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Ziti with Chicken, Baby Artichokes & Sun Dried Tomatoes

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Ziti with Chicken and Artichokes

I made this ziti with chicken, baby artichokes and sun dried tomatoes last night for dinner. I hadn’t planned on posting about my dinner but since I couldn’t help myself and had seconds (it tasted so good), I thought maybe it was blog worthy.  It all started off with two chicken breasts and some baby artichokes that have been screaming at me the past couple days “cook me, cook me”.  I figured I better hurry up and do something with them before they went bad.  I wanted something a little more exciting than just a piece of grilled chicken and some baby artichokes so I made up a pasta dish with them.  I know, I’m suppose to be low carbing it but I hadn’t eaten much all day and I was REALLY hungry!  A quick look in the refrigerator I noticed a half of a jar of capers, some sun dried tomatoes, and a couple shallots.  Okay, I can go with that.

So I trimmed the baby artichokes and steamed them (you could totally use frozen or canned artichoke hearts and it would taste just fine and save a step).  Then I sautéed the cut up chicken in some olive oil with some sliced shallots and garlic.  Threw in some sun dried tomatoes, the capers, a little white wine, some chicken stock, the artichokes, and some fresh tarragon from my yard and let it all simmer until the chicken was cooked.  At this point I thought it needed a bit more color so I threw in a big handful of baby kale (could use spinach) that I had in the fridge. Then I tossed it with some pasta and topped it with a squeeze of lemon and fresh shaved parmesan cheese.  I really didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did.  Man was it good!  There’s just something about the combination of tarragon, capers and wine that made the light sauce so tasty.  I couldn’t resist.

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Ziti with Chicken, Baby Artichokes & Sun Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients

Scale
  • 10 baby artichokes, trimmed and steamed, then cut in half
  • 2 chicken breasts, cubed
  • 2 shallots, sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • olive oil (enough to coat the saute pan)
  • 2 Tbls. capers, drained
  • 1/4 C. sliced sun dried tomatoes (I used ones packed in oil, and drained the oil)
  • 1/2 C. chicken stock
  • 1/2 C. white wine
  • several sprigs fresh tarragon
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • 1 C. baby spinach or kale
  • 1/2 lemon, juiced
  • Fresh shaved parmesan cheese for topping
  • 1/2 box ziti, or other favorite pasta shape

Instructions

  1. Trim artichokes and steam until tender. I think it would be perfectly acceptable to used frozen or canned artichoke hearts (not marinated) which is what I will be using next time. Just seems easier!
  2. Cook pasta according to package directions.
  3. Meanwhile, cut up chicken breasts in equal sized chunks. In a high sided saute pan, saute the chicken, garlic, shallots in a bit of olive oil for a few minutes, then add capers, sun dried tomatoes, chicken stock, wine, tarragon, salt & pepper to taste. Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Uncover and add spinach or kale and cook until wilted. You can always add a little more wine or broth as needed. Add pasta, toss to combine. Squeeze fresh lemon on top and garnish with shaved parmesan.