Penne with Chicken, Asparagus & Lemon

 This time for our dinner group we did a chicken and past dish.  All my pictures (except the last one) ended up blurry!  Maybe I should try taking pictures with something other than my phone...

I had some chicken that had been in the frig for a while.  I couldn't remember how long, but it looked good, so I decided I'd just cook it up.  But while I was cooking it up I was getting a very strong vinegar smell.  I cooked it all the way through and tasted a tiny piece.  It tasted a little off.  That with the vinegar smell had me throwing it out.  Luckily Jonathan had some pre-cooked chicken in the frig that needed to be used up.  So I just stole all his chicken.  :-)  He's out of town so I have a few days to get that replaced...

I cooked up the leek, then I stirred in the garlic and thyme (I used dried).  I added in the flour and cooked for one minute.  Then I added in the 3 cups chicken broth (I substituted broth for the wine).  I let it cook for 15 minutes but it never did thicken up. 

After 15 minutes I took it off the heat,added the pre-cooked chicken that I stole from Jonathan and then added in the lemon and parmesan cheese.  It smelled really yummy and fresh!

I cooked the asparagus for just 2 minutes.  I had really thin asparagus so I didn't want to overcook it.  I forgot to cut the asparagus until after I had cooked it.  Once the pasta, and asparagus were done I dumped, both of them and the chicken mix into the big pot I'd cooked the pasta it. 

The final step was to top it with fresh basil.  I had been lucky enough to find a big bunch of fresh basil at the grocery store!  That's never happened before - usually if I want fresh I have to spend $3 bucks for 4 or 5 leaves.  It smelled so yummy.  I love fresh basil. 

This is the only picture that turned out.  I thought about including the other blurry ones, but they actually made me a little sick to look at, so...

 

 

This recipe was a bit of work, several steps but the end flavor it so yummy, fresh lemon, fresh basil and tender, crisp asparagus.  It's a wonderful spring dish.  If you want the full recipe, check out Valerie's blog.