Small batch Zesty Chicken Rigatoni

Zesty Chicken Rigatoni with Broccoli.

This began as a left-over meal for a cold, rainy Spring evening. I was inspired to do something Italian. But then it turned out to be a wonderful meal that I wanted to write-up to include on my food blog.

My goal was to make a micro-sauce. Usually my ‘one can’ sauce is a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes. Tonight I worked off a 16 oz can of tomato sauce. A portion for 2 meals.

I’m using leftover Tandoori chicken, but any or no chicken is fine. For this I used the meat of one chicken thigh. You could throw in some chicken (my usual style) into the onions before adding the garlic. Even a cup of ground chicken would be enough. This is a small sauce batch.

Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil, toss in a some diced onion. I used about 1/4 of a large sweet onion. When caramelized, I tossed in 4 finely diced garlic cloves, ground in some black pepper and put in about 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper. Before the garlic can burn, pour in the can of tomato sauce. Season with dry oregano and basil (about 1 tablespoon each). Fold in your meat, if desired.

I had some rigatoni left over from and earlier meal, so I boiled a cup and a half for 14 minutes. I set up some broccoli to steam while I assembled the meal. I fine shredded about a cup of parmesian cheese. I sliced off two pieces of Italian bread and air fried them for 2 minutes. I put some garlic butter on them, topped them with a spoonful of parm and air fried them for another minute.

Everything came together perfectly. I drained the rigatoni, tossed it into the sauce for a minute or two, plated the pasta/sauce, put some parm on top, put on the broccoli, the remaining parm, added the bread, garnished with fresh basil.

I served this with an Ingleside Winery Blue Crab white wine.

Bingo, fantastic meal, almost no effort and leftover for lunch tomorrow!