A couple of years ago my Aunt Kathy made a similar dish to this one – which I just loved. Rosemary, pasta, and cheese: definitely, some of my favorites. She said that she found the recipe in Martha Stewart Living, but a few weeks later, when I looked for it online, I could not find it. So I created my own rendition of the recipe as seen below.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb Orecchiette Pasta
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 1-2 diced Chicken Breasts (omit chicken for vegetarian version)
- 1/4 cup Flour
- Salt and Pepper for seasoning
- 2 Cloves minced Garlic
- 1 cup Chicken Stock (vegetable stock for vegetarian rendition)
- 3-4 sprigs of coarsely chopped fresh Rosemary
- 1 cup of thickly grated Parmesan Cheese (use a regular sized cheese grater to grate your parmesan cheese instead of the finer rasper that is typically used for parmesan cheese)
Directions:
- Cook the orecchiette pasta as you would ordinarily cook your pasta. Following the directions on the packaging as needed.
- While the orecchiette is cooking, melt the butter in a skillet.
- Dredge your chicken in the flour, and season it with some salt and pepper.
- Brown your chicken in the butter. (for the vegetarian version pour the flour directly into the melted butter to make a roux)
- Add any excess flour into the skillet along with the chicken.
- Add the garlic. Continue to cook the garlic until it starts to brown slightly. Make sure you do not burn it.
- Pour the stock into the skillet.
- Add the Rosemary.
- Allow the liquid to cook down slightly and thicken into a sauce (~5-7 minutes). You should make sure that the chicken is fully cooked at this time.
- In a large serving dish combine the drained orecchiette, the chicken rosemary sauce, and the grated parmesan cheese. The cheese should melt into the sauce and orecchiette.