So I decided to start trying to do some different things with smoked meats, first up, some chicken pasta.
I started with 4 large chicken breasts, brined them for about 5 hours in a simple salt water, apple juice brine with just a little brown sugar and italian seasoning mixed in with some garlic. I pulled them from the brine, rinsed them off and seasoned them with some generic Italian Seasoning that we had in the cabinet.
I smoked them at 250, I can't remember for how long, but it didn't take very long with the intent of pulling them at just a hair below 165 (The rest will take them the rest of the way). Here is a pretty picture of the chicken breasts cooking away on my Bell Fab smoker. (Also, I have no idea why my text changed color, but I'm not going to worry about it right now).
I'm no expert, but I think the brine is what softened the meat enough to get those nice grill marks.
While they were getting close, I started making the sauce. I failed to take pictures of the sauce, but here is how it went down...
I cooked some bacon (to eat, and I used the leftovers in the pasta), I used some of the remaining grease and a little butter to cook some diced onions, once they were nearly transparent, I added some mushrooms (I just used the mushrooms we had in the fridge, which got me in trouble when my wife tried to make spaghetti the next night), let the mushrooms brown, I added about 4 TBSPs of flour and let it thicken. At some point in here I chopped the bacon and added it, then I added about 2 cups of chicken broth let it come up to temp, and then I covered and let it simmer.
For the Noodles I used Banza Chick Pea Rotini (and a box of Cavatini, because I didn't have enough Rotini). I boiled it per manufacturer recommendations with some butter and salt. We try to use the Banza noodles due to family dietary restrictions, and they are lower in carbs and calories and higher in protein than regular noodles. As a bonus, the flavor difference is minimal, especially if your sauce is good.
Then came the good stuff, I mixed the sauce with the noodles and sliced the chicken that had been resting and tented for about 30 minutes or so.
It sliced up nicely
And then I plated it up with the pasta
It was a hit with the family. They all really enjoyed it. If and when I do it again I will make more sauce. I pretty regularly cook for 8-10 people, so the sauce to pasta ratio wasn't quite what I prefer, but the flavor was fantastic.
I started with 4 large chicken breasts, brined them for about 5 hours in a simple salt water, apple juice brine with just a little brown sugar and italian seasoning mixed in with some garlic. I pulled them from the brine, rinsed them off and seasoned them with some generic Italian Seasoning that we had in the cabinet.
I smoked them at 250, I can't remember for how long, but it didn't take very long with the intent of pulling them at just a hair below 165 (The rest will take them the rest of the way). Here is a pretty picture of the chicken breasts cooking away on my Bell Fab smoker. (Also, I have no idea why my text changed color, but I'm not going to worry about it right now).
I'm no expert, but I think the brine is what softened the meat enough to get those nice grill marks.
While they were getting close, I started making the sauce. I failed to take pictures of the sauce, but here is how it went down...
I cooked some bacon (to eat, and I used the leftovers in the pasta), I used some of the remaining grease and a little butter to cook some diced onions, once they were nearly transparent, I added some mushrooms (I just used the mushrooms we had in the fridge, which got me in trouble when my wife tried to make spaghetti the next night), let the mushrooms brown, I added about 4 TBSPs of flour and let it thicken. At some point in here I chopped the bacon and added it, then I added about 2 cups of chicken broth let it come up to temp, and then I covered and let it simmer.
For the Noodles I used Banza Chick Pea Rotini (and a box of Cavatini, because I didn't have enough Rotini). I boiled it per manufacturer recommendations with some butter and salt. We try to use the Banza noodles due to family dietary restrictions, and they are lower in carbs and calories and higher in protein than regular noodles. As a bonus, the flavor difference is minimal, especially if your sauce is good.
Then came the good stuff, I mixed the sauce with the noodles and sliced the chicken that had been resting and tented for about 30 minutes or so.
It sliced up nicely
And then I plated it up with the pasta
It was a hit with the family. They all really enjoyed it. If and when I do it again I will make more sauce. I pretty regularly cook for 8-10 people, so the sauce to pasta ratio wasn't quite what I prefer, but the flavor was fantastic.
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