Penne with Chicken, Arugula & Fresh Herbs

Serves 6 people.   
   
One of my favorite impromptu dishes is to mix greens with pasta.  This is a healthy, simple dish that is easy and quick to make. 

Ingredients

1 pound penne pasta (I like De Cecco)
2 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 cups whole baby arugula leaves
1 cup fresh basil prepared chiffonade
½ cup fresh flat leaf parsley chopped

Vinaigrette

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar (aged and sweet if possible)
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil (the best you can afford)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
sea salt and fresh ground white pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Rinse and dry the chicken breasts.  Rub with olive oil and season with sea salt and fresh ground white pepper.  Cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Do no overcook.  Center of breasts should be slightly pink.  Remove from oven and set aside. 

While the chicken is cooking, you can do the preparation for the remainder of the dish. 

Rinse and dry fresh basil and remove stems.  Stack the leaves and then roll them into a cigar and slice into thin strips.  This process is called chiffonade.  Cutting the basil in this fashion prevents you from bruising the delicate leaves. 

Rinse and dry fresh parsley and remove stems.  No short cuts!!  Believe me, if you think no one will notice a few stems once they are all chopped, you are wrong.  They are bitter and will stick out of your guests teeth, to their horror and your embarrassment.

In a small bowl stir mustard with balsamic vinegar until it is emulsified, then add the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.  I like to add half of the prepared basil and parsley so that it can infuse the vinaigrette while you wait for the chicken and pasta to cook. 

Boil large pot of water for pasta.  Once it reaches a rolling boil, add a generous handful of sea salt and then add the pasta and stir.  Cook for about 8 minutes for al dente.  I prefer my pasta to be cooked slightly more than al dente so I cook my pasta for about 10 minutes.  Strain through a colander, and then pour the pasta into a large serving dish.  Immediately coat with the vinaigrette so that it can soak into the hot pasta and give it more flavor. 

The pasta is the featured ingredient of this dish so don’t be tempted to make more of the vinaigrette.  There is enough in this recipe to properly coat a pound of pasta.  

Slice the chicken breasts into medium to thin strips and add to the pasta.  Add the arugula and remaining fresh herbs, and toss with the pasta and chicken.