Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Chicken Spinach Artichoke Pesto Pasta (Quick Take)

Chicken Spinach Artichoke Pesto Pasta (Quick Take)

A simple & fast skillet supper with sautéed chicken breast, fresh spinach, prepared pesto and marinated artichoke hearts. Six ingredients, about 20 minutes, and you've got a tasty meal.

A simple & fast skillet supper with sautéed chicken breast, fresh spinach, prepared pesto and marinated artichoke hearts. Six ingredients, about 20 minutes, and you've got a tasty meal.
Updated in 2015 with new photos!

If you want to prepare a special meal that appears as if you've given a lot of thought to it but in fact you just realized that tonight was The Night and need to pull something out of your ear, read on.



A simple & fast skillet supper with sautéed chicken breast, fresh spinach, prepared pesto and marinated artichoke hearts. Six ingredients, about 20 minutes, and you've got a tasty meal.


I had a chicken breast, a bunch of spinach from the farm share, and a lot of cans of cream of chicken soup because they were a good price so I stocked up.  Yes, I use canned soup.  I tried making my own but it didn't come out as well as this stuff.  Everything in moderation.  While looking for inspiration for dinner, I decided to read the recipe on the can. In the surprise of the century, the recipe called for mixing the can of soup with pesto to make a sauce.  Hey, you know I've got pesto in the freezer!  I could make that recipe!


A simple & fast skillet supper with sautéed chicken breast, fresh spinach, prepared pesto and marinated artichoke hearts. Six ingredients, about 20 minutes, and you've got a tasty meal.


Not content to merely follow the recipe, I decided to boost the veggie content with my farm share spinach and some marinated artichokes.  I think I was in a race to see how fast I could empty a giant Costco-sized jar.  I did it in about a week, between pizzas, dips, and this.  New record.

This was fast and very delicious, if you are older than 14 and love the taste of artichokes.  The kids ate everything but the artichokes.  If you were going meatless I'd sub mushrooms for the chicken and use the soup of your choice.

2015 Update: I used my immersion blender to chop the artichoke hearts and combine with the pesto & soup. I also forgot to tear up the spinach--it was so tender--so I blended some of the cooked spinach up in the sauce, too. Kids ate everything. I kept the process photos from 2013:


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/02/chicken-spinach-artichoke-pesto-pasta.html

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/02/chicken-spinach-artichoke-pesto-pasta.html

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2013/02/chicken-spinach-artichoke-pesto-pasta.html

Chicken, Spinach, Artichoke and Pesto Pasta

Ingredients


  • 3 cups noodles (I used egg noodles)
  • 1 BSCB (boneless skinless chicken breast), cubed
  • 1 large bunch spinach, well-washed, torn into small pieces (see note below)
  • 2 cubes put up pesto (about 1/3 cup prepared pesto)
  • 1 can cream of chicken soup (or your homemade equivalent, and please share if you love your recipe)
  • 1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, chopped

Instructions


  1. Preheat your pretty purple pot filled with salted water over high heat. When the water is boiling, cook the noodles according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.  
  2. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat.  
  3. Add a turn of oil and sauté the chicken cubes until lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes for me.
  4. Add the spinach and cook until it gives up its water and wilts, about 5 minutes for me.  
  5. Toss in the pesto, soup, and artichoke hearts into the skillet.  Mix well, heat through.  
  6. Stir in the pasta and serve.
Note:  If you are using winter farm share spinach, it's much tougher than a bag of baby spinach.  I rip out the stems and feed them to the composting pigs (they are growing big and strong with all the spinach ribs). If I just had a bag of baby spinach I'd toss them in un-torn.


A simple & fast skillet supper with sautéed chicken breast, fresh spinach, prepared pesto and marinated artichoke hearts. Six ingredients, about 20 minutes, and you've got a tasty meal.


This post is shared with the Creative HomeAcre Hop, Food on Friday, and the Farmgirl Friday Blog Fest at Let This Mind Be In You.


behind the scenes taking the new photos of Chicken Spinach Artichoke Pesto Pasta


For more recipes using artichoke hearts, please see my Artichoke Recipes Collection. For more recipes using spinach, please see my Spinach Recipes Collection. These are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating seasonally from the farm share and farmer's market. Want more ideas? Follow me on Pinterest! On Facebook! On Dasher! On . . . oh never mind.

14 comments:

  1. I have pasta, frozen pesto, spinach, and artichokes. It's a sign; I'm going to have to make a variation of this, which works because I've been craving artichokes like crazy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meghan,
      I cannot wait to see how you can take this meat-laden recipe and veg it up.
      I'm glad I posted early!

      Delete
  2. This looks amazing, your meatless idea reminded me that I need a bunch of meals for Fridays. Lent is here (already?!) and my Catholic husband and kiddos need to act Catholic a bit. I think this'll be good w/o the chicken, it'll have plenty of flavor. I have a ton of asparagus fm Costco that I could add.

    Thanks for the recipes, yr link earned a coveted spot on my BOOKMARK BAR.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lasar,
      That's very loving of you to plan for their special dietary needs. Like the beet pizza valentine love-fest I rambled about. I think swapping asparagus for spinach would be genius.
      Your Bookmark Bar?! I'm both touched and envious. Mine is filled with the childrens' school websites and grade websites. Unfair. I want an entire bookmark bar of what I want to see!
      Thanks!

      Delete
  3. It must be February: cuz I'm starved for carbs. It would be SO easy to start with this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stay strong!
      Start with rice--Alyssa at Everyday Maven posted a riced cauliflower recipe that looks delicious.
      But I see you started with a hamburger casserole which I am sure hit the 'homey and comforting' ticket just fine.
      Thanks!

      Delete
  4. I usually enjoy a spinach pesto better than a basil pesto. This looks awesome. You should stop by my linky party tonight and link up one of your great recipes and enter the giveaway. Tonight will be a Lodge Enamel Covered Casserole Dish

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marlene,
      Do you know I've never made pesto with spinach? Basil and arugula, yes, but all the extra spinach seems to end up in a smoothie before I can whirl it into pesto. I should think about that when I've got an abundance of greens. I don't know that I could ever have too much spinach, though!

      What a great giveaway! I'll look into it--thanks!

      Delete
  5. Yum! Found you on Farm Girl Friday! I would love to have you share this on The Creative HomeAcre Hop today!
    http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/02/the-creative-homeacre-hop-3.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa Lynn, thanks for the invite, and thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
    2. Thanks so much for sharing this delicious recipe on The Creative HomeAcre Hop! Hope to see you tomorrow on the next hop!
      http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/02/the-creative-homeacre-hop-4.html

      Delete
  6. Am really glad for the note shared at the end. I tried it with baby spinach and it adds to the beauty of the dish.

    ReplyDelete