One of our favorite restaurants to visit for date nights is Sunsets. Every time we go the food is fabulous – we haven’t had a dish we didn’t like. It’s one of the few places where my husband and I will go “all out” and get an appetizer, soup/salad, entrée, and dessert. Plus drinks. Have to have drinks. Right? Well, that can add up to a hefty tab. So, when we found out we were expecting last year, we tightened our belts and began to start pinching pennies. I was really missing Sunsets and my favorite pasta dish. (By missing it, I mean craving it, let’s be honest). I came home one night to find that my husband had recreated the dish for dinner! There he was in the kitchen, using every bowl, pot, pan, and utensil in the joint – he’s a bit of a bull in the kitchen, as his Grandma would say. It was wonderful and has since become a go-to meal for us. It makes a large batch so you can freeze a good amount and save it for later meals (you know, for the days when you forget to thaw something or are just plain lazy and don’t want to cook). Here is our recipe for what we have aptly called, Sunsets Pasta:
1 box pasta
1 large chicken breast
3 links Italian sausage (regular, turkey, or chicken)
1 ½ cup chicken broth
½ cup white wine (whatever you have in the house – if you prefer not to use wine, just add another ½ cup of chicken
broth)
10 oz. fresh spinach
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Fresh Parmesan cheese
Get the water boiling for the pasta and prepare according to the box. Remember to add salt to the water – you want it to taste like the sea. I never did this until I became OBSESSED with the Food Network and saw that everyone and their mother was doing this. It really does make a difference.
The ‘sauce’ for this dish is super light, which is one of the reasons I love it. At Sunsets they use an obscene amount of butter; at home, we do not. You’re basically going to be making a reduction of the chicken broth and wine. Combine those along with the garlic and Italian seasonings (feel free to use as much or as little garlic and seasonings as you like – we love garlic so we use a good amount). Let this simmer and stir often.
On to the meat. You can prepare the chicken and sausage anyway you prefer (on the grill or in a pan). For us, it depends on the season, if we can grill it, we will. Once the meat is done, you’ll want to thinly slice the sausage and dice the chicken – you want bite size pieces. Throw these into a large mixing bowl and set off to the side.
Grab your spinach and wilt – I do this over the stove and if we cooked our meat inside, I do it in the same pan that I cooked the meat in. Why dirty another dish?
While your spinach is wilting, your pasta should be about done. Drain it and throw it in with your meat and combine well.
When you spinach is done, toss this in with the pasta and meat and combine.
Take your sauce and slowly pour over all the pasta and lightly toss.
Now bring out that fancy pasta serving dish you never use and fill it up! Add a sprinkling of fresh Parmesan cheese and you’re done!
*You can add so many different things to this dish; we’ve added mushrooms, olives, cherry tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and basil. Whatever suits your pallet, add it on in!
1 box pasta
1 large chicken breast
3 links Italian sausage (regular, turkey, or chicken)
1 ½ cup chicken broth
½ cup white wine (whatever you have in the house – if you prefer not to use wine, just add another ½ cup of chicken
broth)
10 oz. fresh spinach
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Fresh Parmesan cheese
Get the water boiling for the pasta and prepare according to the box. Remember to add salt to the water – you want it to taste like the sea. I never did this until I became OBSESSED with the Food Network and saw that everyone and their mother was doing this. It really does make a difference.
The ‘sauce’ for this dish is super light, which is one of the reasons I love it. At Sunsets they use an obscene amount of butter; at home, we do not. You’re basically going to be making a reduction of the chicken broth and wine. Combine those along with the garlic and Italian seasonings (feel free to use as much or as little garlic and seasonings as you like – we love garlic so we use a good amount). Let this simmer and stir often.
On to the meat. You can prepare the chicken and sausage anyway you prefer (on the grill or in a pan). For us, it depends on the season, if we can grill it, we will. Once the meat is done, you’ll want to thinly slice the sausage and dice the chicken – you want bite size pieces. Throw these into a large mixing bowl and set off to the side.
Grab your spinach and wilt – I do this over the stove and if we cooked our meat inside, I do it in the same pan that I cooked the meat in. Why dirty another dish?
While your spinach is wilting, your pasta should be about done. Drain it and throw it in with your meat and combine well.
When you spinach is done, toss this in with the pasta and meat and combine.
Take your sauce and slowly pour over all the pasta and lightly toss.
Now bring out that fancy pasta serving dish you never use and fill it up! Add a sprinkling of fresh Parmesan cheese and you’re done!
*You can add so many different things to this dish; we’ve added mushrooms, olives, cherry tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and basil. Whatever suits your pallet, add it on in!