Lemony Artichoke and Sundried Tomato Pasta

Somehow I got roped into coaching the girls track team at my school.  I say somehow, because I have never run track in my life and know absolutely nothing about it.  In fact, before this year, I’d never even voluntarily run in my life.  But here I am, Coach Pearce.  Well, at least it gives me street cred with the kids.

We had a meet this last Friday, and the captain of the boy’s team (the one who conned me into doing this…) and I had to meet up so we could register the kids for their events.  We were going to go out, but then I realized that that was silly, the restaurant probably didn’t even have wi-fi, so we would have had to come back here anyway.  Instead, I (rather last minute) decided to have him come over to my place, and I made this pasta.  Most of the ingredients are things I always have on hand in my kitchen, so it was really easy to throw this recipe together after a quick walk up to the store for some artichoke hearts.  I made this with chicken, because I’ve found it’s usually safer to make dishes with meat when boys are involved, but I think it would be delicious as a vegetarian dish without the chicken as well.

Ingredients (serve 4):

6 oz spaghetti (or other long pasta)

1 tbsp olive oil

1/3 c flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 chicken breasts, chunked

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 c chicken broth

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1 tsp dried basil

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

6 oz sun-dried tomatoes

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 c water

Direction:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. Combine the flour and salt on a plate, then gently press the chicken breast chunks into the flour mixture to coat. Arrange the chicken in the skillet and cook until browned.  Add the lemon juice, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaf, and basil.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. Stir in the artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes and continue simmering for about 10 minutes.

3. Mix the cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Stir the mixture into the chicken, and continue cooking until thickened, about 5 minutes.