Pasta with Bacon and Chicken

Contributor: sara_l_r

Contributor Notes: This is an adaptation of a Pioneer Woman recipe. I took out the stuff that tastes bad and added stuff that tastes better. It is incredibly easy, very quick, super delicious, and looks a little bit fancy!

Cooking Time: About half an hour.

Easy Level: I'd say a 3 out of 10.

Serves: 4 (obviously, halve all amounts to serve 2)

Pasta with Bacon and Chicken

3 - 4 slices fatty bacon

3 good-side chicken breasts (sub 3 chicken tenders per breast)

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup heavy cream

5 - 6 cloves fresh garlic

1 pound pasta

Salt (I use kosher for seasoning and regular Morton's for salting water and baking. Switch to kosher. Your life will change.) 

Pepper (I always use Coarse-Ground Black Pepper. Fresh-ground has a very different flavour that I don't love.)

Pecorino romano/parmesan cheese (FRESH GRATED FOR THE LOVE OF GOD)

Parsley

Chives/scallions (green onions)

Olive oil

Boil water for pasta (enough to cover all pasta with at least an inch of water above it). When water has boiled, add plenty of salt to water and add pasta. In the time it takes for water to boil and pasta to cook, you can do all the rest.

Chop bacon into small pieces (~1/2 inch). Fry in a hot pan (on high) until all fat is rendered (you can tell because the bacon has more or less stopped sizzling and is very brown and crispy). Remove bacon to a separate dish (slotted spoons are great for this) and keep all the fat in the pan. Reduce heat to medium.

While bacon is frying, chop your chicken into ~1 inch cubes. (Size doesn't matter but try to keep it uniform.) After bacon is removed, put chicken into bacon fat to fry. If you need to add some olive oil to give the chicken enough grease to fry in, just a splash is fine. (If your bacon is fatty enough you shouldn't have to do this.)

Saute chicken for about five minutes, then add 1 cup chicken broth and minced garlic. Feel free to turn up heat (I needed to) but don't burn garlic. Deglaze the pan (scrape up all the  brown stuff on the bottom with a whisk to increase the flavor of the sauce). If you have nonstick pans, you won't need to deglaze, and you shouldn't because you'll wreck your pan. 

When chicken is cooked through (cut open a piece and it's a uniform whiteness), reduce heat to medium-low. Add 1 cup cream, black pepper to taste (I add a lot), some salt, parsley to taste (if you buy a bunch at the store, two chops off the head is entirely sufficient), chives or scallions to taste (the same amount of chives as parsley, or 2 fully chopped scallions, should do it) and cheese to taste. I usually add a lot of cheese, maybe half a cup or more. Cook for at least 5 - 6 more minutes to allow all ingredients to meld.

TASTE THE SAUCE. I almost always need to add more cheese. More cheese will kick it up in a more complex way than more salt. 

Pour over drained pasta. Enjoy!!