Classic Lemon Chicken Pasta with Spinach & Parmesan from Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon
Have you signed up for our Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon meal kits yet? Every week, I get a delivery of ingredients for three delicious, nutritious, and time-saving dishes that are just perfect for lunches or dinners here at the farm.
Recently, while I was away traveling for business, my housekeeper, Elvira Rojas, cooked one of the meal kits I selected from the week's menu - my own Classic Lemon Chicken Pasta with Spinach & Parmesan. It's an easy, satisfying, and flavorful meal that is so quick to prepare. The entire dish was cooked in 30-minutes and every bit was devoured. Our Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon delivery meal kit service features so many inspiring recipes and cooking ideas, and you can choose the recipes that best fit your family's busy lifestyle. If you haven’t yet tried Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon, please go to the web site right now and subscribe today and see our flash deals!
Here are some photos.
-
- Every week, when we cook our Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon meal kits, we remove all the ingredients included and place them on the counter. These ingredients are pre-portioned and come in easy to open packaging. All one needs to provide is the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
-
- One of the great things about our meal kits is that we include a large recipe card with the photo of the finished dish on the front with the estimated cooking time listed…
-
- … And images on the back showing each of the main preparation steps. Plus, we include the ingredients list, the tools or supplies needed, and a rundown of the nutrition values. These recipe cards are great to save for future use.
-
- The first step is to zest all the lemon. Elvira uses a microplane and runs the lemon up and down over the surface, scraping off the yellow skin into the bowl. Lemon zest, or the zest of any citrus fruit, refers to the outermost layer of the peel known as the flavedo. This layer contains natural oils that are full of sweet citrus flavor.
-
- She also uses my own citrus press to squeeze two tablespoons of lemon juice into a separate bowl.
-
- Then, Elvira prepares the marinade. This Tuscan Spice Blend is included in the kit with all the other necessary dry ingredients for the dish. A Tuscan spice blend includes ingredients such as dried basil, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, fennel seeds, and garlic powder.
-
- In he bowl, Elvira combines the spice blend along with three tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of the lemon juice.
-
- We sliced the chicken breasts into strips before cooking, but one can also cut them after the chicken is cooked.
-
- The chicken is cooked through in a skillet with two tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. This takes about four-minutes per side. Afterwards, it is transferred into the bowl with the marinade and set aside.
-
- When ready to cook the pasta, be sure the pot is filled with enough water to cover the pasta. Use about four quarts of water for every one pound of pasta. In general, the more pasta one is cooking, the more water is needed to prevent the pasta from clumping up too much in the pot. Also add some salt to the water and make sure it is boiling before adding the pasta.
-
- Elvira cooks the pasta until al-dente. For this specific pasta, that’s about eight to 10-minutes.
-
- The kit also includes a pre-portioned amount of Parmesan cheese. Elvira grates all the cheese and sets it aside.
-
- The pasta is ready. In cooking, al dente describes pasta or rice that is cooked to be firm to the bite. The exact translation from Italian is “to the tooth” and is the ideal consistency for pasta. Molto al dente is the culinary term for slightly undercooked pasta.
-
- Then, after one cup of the pasta cooking water is reserved, the pasta is drained over the spinach – also included – which cooks it just enough until it wilts.
-
- The remaining pasta water is poured back into the pot and heated again over medium-high heat until it is simmering.
-
- All the mascarpone is added and stirred until melted. Mascarpone is a soft Italian acid-set cream cheese.
-
- Elvira adds in the lemon zest, remaining lemon juice, and all but four tablespoons of the Parmesan. It is all stirred completely and seasoned to taste with salt and pepper.
-
- The pasta and spinach are added to the sauce…
-
- … and then tossed to coat and sprinkled with salt and pepper to taste.
-
- Finally, the chicken is served over the pasta with any remaining marinade spooned over the top along with a sprinkle of the remaining Parmesan. This dish was so easy to prepare and so delicious. The final result looks just like the photo. These meals are so flavorful. Nothing was left over. Please go to the web site and sign up today!
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
