Why Did I Wait So Long?

I've had this recipe kicking around for a while and have been meaning to try it since the first day I saw it. I'd even got as far as putting it on the weekly menu several times but it seemed like something got in the way every time I planned to make. Every time, that is, until last week.

This chicken and pasta dish was so full of flavour and everyone in the family loved it - from the littlest member right up to the Daddy. In fact three of the four of us went back for more! Another bonus as far as I was concerned was that it was a budget friendly dish - it used up some leftover bits and pieces in my fridge (like the bacon, the wine and the cream) as well as requiring several other ingredients that were already in the fridge, pantry or garden (like the butter, garlic, mustard, pasta, stock powder and parsley). I just had to buy the chicken thighs, which are pretty inexpensive, and the mushrooms and shallots which I used in other recipes as well. This one is definitely going to be made again, and fairly soon if my family have any say in it.

Nick's Chicken Master Blaster

from Good Taste magazine, September 2008

400g dried penne pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 bacon rashers, rind removed, very thinly sliced

600g chicken thigh fillet, excess fat trimmed, coarsely chopped

20g butter

1-2 garlic cloves, crushed

4 shallots, end trimmed, thinly sliced

75g (1 cup) sliced mushrooms

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

80ml (1/3 cup) white wine

1/2 teaspoon chicken stock powder

1 x 300ml carton pouring cream

1/4 cup chopped fresh continental parsley

Garlic bread, to serve

1. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water following packed direction or until al dente. Drain.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in deep frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the bacon. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.

3. Add the chicken to the frying pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until light golden. Transfer to a plate.

4. Heat the butter in the frying pan until foaming. Stir in the garlic, shallot, mushroom and mustard. Cook stirring, for 2 minutes or until the mushroom softens slightly.

5. Add the wine and stock powder. Cook for 2 minutes or until the liquid almost evaporates. Stir in the chicken and cream. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

6. Stir in the pasta. Sprinkle with the bacon and parsley. Serve with garlic bread.