Creamy Chicken Penne with Parmesan and Tomato

Ingredients

2 cups penne pasta
2 tablespoons butter
1 lb chicken breast, cut into strips
4 tomatoes, diced and unseeded
1 medium onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp thyme1 tbs black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 cup of heavy cream or half and half
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

In a medium saucepan, add butter, garlic and onion, oregano, marjoram, thyme, black pepper and salt. Cook until onions are translucent.

Normally, most normal people (I admitt that I'm not normal) have chicken ready and thawed prior to cooking. This was last minute. My chicken was frozen, so I boiled my chicken, then diced. Next time, I will add the raw chicken in this first step so the chicken can soak up some yummy juices.

Set a pot to boil 4 quarts of water or chicken stock. Add penne, boil until pasta is tender but still somewhat firm. Nobody likes overly mushy pasta. I like to boil in chicken stock because it can give the noodles a little more flavor. In this recipe, I even boiled them with some of my diced tomatoes to soak up some of those juices too!

Anyway, I added my diced chicken at this point. Stir in the heavy cream, Parmesan cheese and as seen in the next picture, I also did the rest of my tomatoes. The mixture can look a little soupy at first but it will thicken up.

If you had to opt for milk and butter to substitute for the heavy cream or half and half, it's okay! Use some corn starch or arrow root powder to thicken it up. If you do end up using a thickener, heat up your milk in the microwave and dissolve the thickener into the milk prior to adding. If you add the thickener without dissolving it first in the hot milk, it will clump... Ew!

Drain the noodles and return to pan. Add the chicken tomato sauce, stir and serve. Sprinkle some Parmesan for some really yummy flavor. If you want a little kick, use crushed red pepper in the beginning of the recipe. Enjoy!