Saturday, March 10, 2007

GARLIC HERB CHICKEN CON BROCCOLI


Two of my favorite things are Site Meter and Garlic Herb Chicken Con Broccoli (GHCCB) from The Olive Garden. You may ask what they have in common. Well (when my Site Meter was working) Site Meter showed me that 2-3 times per week someone would look at my blog after Googling (is that a word) Garlic Herb Chicken Con Broccoli.

I emailed The Olive Garden and asked them to provide me with the recipe and nutritional facts for Garlic Herb Chicken Con Broccoli. As you can probably guess, they definitely would not give me the recipe and at this time they do not have nutritional facts for all of their meals, only their "Garden Fare" choices (you know the "healthy" choices that aren't as exciting).

I did find a recipe on the internet for GHCCB. Hubby and I tried it this past week. It definitely is not The Olive Garden's recipe, but it was close and we enjoyed it. We will be making it again. And we will also be visiting The Olive Garden for the real deal occasionally.

Anyhow here is the recipe. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

GARLIC HERB CHICKEN CON BROCCOLI
1 lb. chicken breasts (or tenderloins)
2 tsp. olive oil
4 oz. dry orecchiette pasta
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp. butter
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 cup broccoli florets, steamed
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

Spice Mixture
2 tsp. dried basil, parsley, and rosemary
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients from spice mixture. Rub onto the chicken breasts. Cook chicken in olive oil until done and browned, set aside.

Cook orecchiette in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, and return pasta to pot.

Stir butter or margarine, and garlic into a saute pan. Cook until garlic caramelizes, then add the cream and the cornstarch on medium heat until it thickens to a sauce, and add to the pasta. Stir chicken and steamed broccoli into the pasta. Simmer until pasta are done, and remove from heat. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe is very easy to make. The only changes we made were we doubled the pasta and sauce recipe. I recommend for you to make these changes as well if you are feeding more than 2 people. Also, I couldn't find orecchiette pasta, so I substituted another kind.

Enjoy!!!

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