Ingredients:
Half a box of fettuccine noodles
2 chicken breasts
1 red pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons Grill Mates Montreal Chicken seasoning
1 fresh minced garlic clove or 1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Serves 2.
First, marinate the chicken using olive oil, vinegar, oregano, Montreal chicken seasoning, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Put all the dry spices in a bowl, then add the oil and water and whisk together until it becomes a watery paste. Dunk each side of the chicken in the marinade and cover with saran wrap in the fridge for at least an hour.
Your marinade ingredients
Put the chicken on the grill until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. You can use a regular meat thermometer or a digital one like we have (one of the advantages is being able to set a timer so you can focus on other things while your food is heating up outside. Slice the whole red pepper in half lengthwise and grill until heated through. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and the pepper into inch-long strips.
Grilled chicken and red pepper. Very hard not to eat before everything else is ready.
Cook the fettuccine according to package directions.For the sauce, my husband very loosely follows a recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (14th edition). If you don't already have it, buy it here. It has a recipe for just about anything you want to cook, and we use it as a reference guide any time we're cooking something new.*
Melt 2 whopping tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and add the cream.
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Note:There has been a lot of confusion in my house over the years about the difference between whipping cream, heavy cream, heavy whipping cream, etc. Here's a pretty good explanation of the breakdown. We used the stuff pictured below from Walmart.
Add the salt, pepper and minced garlic and bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat. You want to keep a gentle, rolling boil going for the rest of the process, which can be tricky so give it your full attention because scraping burned whipping cream off your stove is a huge pain - take it from me.
Boil gently for 3-5 minutes (the longer it boils the thicker it will be; and remember that it will continue to thicken up after you take it off the stove). Add the parmesan cheese and sliced red pepper and stir.
Pour the sauce over your pasta and then add the chicken to top it off. Here's your finished product:
Sooo good.
Take it from everyone who's tried it this way: it's amazing. Grilling the chicken makes a huge difference in the flavor, and I would rather eat my husband's than Olive Garden's any day.**
*Though I love Pinterest for many things, the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook is much more reliable. I've ended up with some scary-looking foods that don't remotely resemble their gorgeous pictures on Pinterest.
**No disrespect to Olive Garden - their food is delicious.
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