Looking for an easy, flavorful, cheesy pasta that’s loaded with protein and fresh veggies? Chicken and Sausage Pasta is the perfect bowl of comfort any time of year!
I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m obsessed with Italian food and wine. Part of this obsession stems from La Scala, this amazing little chef-owned Italian restaurant that I worked at while I was in college. When I say amazing, I’m not exaggerating. The food there is to. die. for. Not only is it the place that taught me to love real Italian food, but it’s the place that taught me how to love wine. Up until I started working there, I thought Boone’s Farm was the real deal…yeah.
I now live far enough away from Lafayette that I haven’t been to my favorite place in a couple of years, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t still crave their food now and then! It was during one of these fits of craving that I decided to recreate one of their dishes, Miguel Angelo, and now I’m sharing the result with you! This delicious pasta dish has a very light sauce, but thanks to all of the goodies in it, it’s super hearty, flavorful, and filling. It has quickly become one of my family’s favorites…even my toddler loves it!
My version is slightly different than the original. They add a touch of their special marinara to the sauce, but I can’t recreate their marinara. When I tried adding a bit of my favorite jarred sauce to the pasta, it really didn’t taste great. So, I left it out of the recipe. The other is that since I don’t have a commercial-grade broiler, and…let’s be honest…I’m usually in a rush to get dinner on the table, I don’t generally take the time to melt the cheese on top. I just kind of throw it on there as I dish it up and let it melt on its own. At La Scala, they put it under a salamander and let the cheese get bubbly and gorgeous. If you want to take the time to do the same with your home oven broiler, feel free!
I like using sweet Italian sausage links in my recipes that call for sausage. I just cut a slit in the casing and squeeze out chunks of sausage. That way, if I don’t use all of the links, I can just freeze the rest to use at a later time. If you would rather use the loose ground stuff, feel free! It’ll taste just the same. Oh, and if you like it a little hot, go for hot Italian Sausage!
Ok, enough with the blabbering already. Let’s make some PASTA!
Cook the fettucine according to package directions, making sure to adequately salt the water (the Italians say it should be salty like the sea) and reserve a about a cup of pasta water when it’s done cooking.
In the meantime, add a touch of olive oil to a large skillet. Break the sausage into little bite-sized pieces and brown them.
Toss the cubed chicken in a little flour and salt, and add it to the pan to brown. Remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and set it aside. It’s ok if it isn’t all the way cooked through; it will cook a little more in the sauce later.
In the same pan, sauté your onions, making sure to add a pinch of salt, until they start to turn translucent. Add the bell peppers (notice that in the pictures I used yellow instead of green…it’s what I had. Green bell peppers are slightly stronger in flavor, so I suggest using them, but the sweeter red, yellow, or orange work just fine, too), mushrooms, and garlic. Stir and cook for about a minute or so, then deglaze the pan with the white wine. Deglaze simply means to add the wine to the pan while it is at medium high heat while scrapping the bottom of the pan to get all of the brown bits off of the bottom. Brown bits = FLAVOR! Once the wine has cooked for a couple of minutes and reduced down a bit, add the chicken broth. Add the meat back to the pan and let cook for a minute or two, then check the seasoning; if it needs a little more salt, add it.
Once the sauce has started to thicken slightly, add the cooked fettuccine and about a ½ cup of the pasta water, along with the spinach. Toss all of this together. If it’s looking a little dry, feel free to add a touch more pasta water. Give it a taste and adjust seasonings.
When you serve it up, top it with shredded mozzarella and parmigiana. If you decide to put the pasta under a broiler to melt the cheese, you’ll want to have a little more liquid in the bowl or pan than if you are just putting the cheese on and serving it. Enjoy!!!
Chicken and Sausage Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 lb Fettuccine
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 3 links Sweet Italian Sausage
- 1 lb Chicken (cubed)
- 1 tbsp All-Purpose Flour
- 1 Medium Onion, Diced
- 1 Green Pepper, Sliced
- 2 Garlic Cloves, Minced
- 8 oz Sliced Mushrooms
- 2 cups Fresh Spinach
- 1/4 cup White Wine such as Pinot Grigio
- 1 cup Chicken Stock or Broth
- 1 cup Pasta Water, Reserved
- 1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 1/2 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
- Cook Fettucine according to package directions, making sure to salt the water well. When the pasta is done cooking, reserve about a cup of the pasta water.
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, then add the sausage, breaking it up into large chunks.
- Toss the cubed chicken in the flour and about 1 ½ teaspoons of salt. Add it to the skillet once the sausage has started to brown.
- When the chicken and sausage have browned, use a slotted spoon to remove them from the skillet.
- To the hot skillet, add the onion, cooking until it starts to turn transparent. Add the bell peppers, mushrooms, and garlic. Cook for about 1 minute.
- Making sure the skillet is at medium-high heat, add the wine while scraping the bottom of the pan. Once the wine has bubbled up and cooked for a couple of minutes, add the chicken stock.
- Add the meat back to the pan, including any juices. Cook until the sauce starts to thicken slightly. Taste to check for seasoning.
- Add the pasta, spinach, and about ½ cup of the pasta water into the pan and toss with the other ingredients. If the pan seems a little dry, add a little more pasta water. You don’t want it to be soupy, but you also want to make sure there is some liquid in the pan.
- Remove from heat and serve into bowls. Top with the shredded mozzarella and a little parmesan. If you want to, place the bowls under the oven broiler to melt the cheese (optional).
- Enjoy!
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