Impress the Guest; Cajun Chicken Garlic Pasta
Below I will list what you will need to prepare this fine dish that will leave your guests in a state of awe. I will also provide pictures to further assist you in this culinary journey. It is quite simple and the results are nothing short of scrumptious.
What You Will Need
1. Cooked & seasoned chicken
2. Pasta
3. Oil
4. Butter
5. Garlic
6. Salt
7. Pot to boil water in
8. Wide pan to simmer oil & toss ingredients in
9. Colander to separate the water from pasta
Where to Start
Start off by filling a pot about 3/4 of the way with water, turning up the heat as high as it will go and adding 2-3 tablespoons of salt directly to the water like so: You will also want to heat up some olive oil in a wide pan that you can toss all of the ingredients in at the end. This is also the oil you will brown your garlic in. Set your stove on low or close to low and allow the oil to heat up. The lower the temp, the less brown your garlic will be. I like mine dark brown and crunchy so I set my stove on the higher end of the low setting. However, start off very low and go up from there. The last thing you want is burnt garlic. I use this kind of pan and coat the bottom with olive oil:
Pour in enough oil until the bottom of the pan is covered. Too little is better than too much. Use your best judgement. Sorry, I'm italian and do everything by eye. While the water and oil are heating up, peel your garlic. I use an entire bulb of garlic per pound of pasta. This is how much I used:
This seems to give just the right amount of garlic zing to the dish. After you have peeled all of your garlic, move onto the chicken.
Seasoned chicken in particular. So what I do is purchase a pre-cooked whole chicken, slice it up and season it with something called "Slap Ya Mama" cajun seasoning. It looks like this:
Once again, too little is better than too much. Use your best judgement. You would be surprised at the amount of flavor that comes out with just a small amount of seasoning.
If you are a more savvy cook, feel free to purchase an uncooked chicken and cook it yourself, but I am not that good of a chef; I just want to make it look like I am to my guests lol. Anyways, once you have carved & seasoned the chicken, you should cover a plate full of chicken per pound of pasta. These are the portions of chicken I used for a pound of pasta. Enough to cover the center circle of the plate:
I then proceed to shred the chicken so that it can be dispersed evenly throughout the pasta. I simply do this by using two forks to tear all the pieces of chicken apart until they look like this:
Shredding the chicken makes it look like there is much more there than before, right?! By now, the water for the pasta should be boiling. Add your choice of pasta to the pot of boiling water and let boil for whatever time the box tells you to boil it for.
Every type of pasta requires a different boiling time so just look on the box for how long to boil it for. While the pasta is cooking, add your peeled garlic to the heated olive oil. This can be done by means of a garlic crusher or, if you are like me and don't have one, a cheese grater will do just fine:
Just be very careful not to cut up your fingers in the process of grating the garlic! Proceed to apply the garlic to the heated oil and allow to simmer to a light to dark brown, adjusting the temperature along the way to suit your liking. Starting out at a lower temperature is better than too high of a temperature. Once you have added all of your garlic, the pan should look like this:
Mmmm the fresh aroma of simmered garlic is in the air. By now your eyes should be watering. This is a good thing! Once the garlic is browned to your liking, turn off the heat and allow to cool. Also by now, your pasta should be done cooking and needs to be strained or separated from the water. Do this by using what is called a colander or what is basically a large bowl with a bunch of holes in it. Pour the pot of hot water and pasta into the colander or whatever you are using to separate the water from the pasta and allow to sit for a minute or two. After most of the water has drained, add a quarter stick of butter directly on top of the pasta that is in the colander like so:
Let the butter melt for a minute and then toss and shake the pasta around in the colander to disperse the butter evenly throughout the pasta. Whenever you are satisfied with how the butter is dispersed, add the buttered noodles directly to the pan of garlic and oil:
Next, proceed to add the seasoned & shredded chicken directly on top of the pasta you just added to the pan of garlic & oil:
Now all that is left to do is toss all of the ingredients together in this pan......without spilling everything. I would recommend using two forks if you do not want to make a mess or just toss it in the pan if you trust yourself enough not to throw everything you just worked so hard for out of the pan.
At this point, all that is left to do is serve and enjoy! I personally add some parmesan cheese on top, but do whatever you think will please the palette. Be creative & experiment! That is what cooking is all about.
I hope this guide provides some people with a delectable dish for all to enjoy!