Spaghet­ti with Chick­en, Red Pep­pers and Aspara­gus with a Goats Cheese and Fried Sage Garnish

(served 4)

2 tbsps butter
20 sage leaves
4 chick­en breast fil­lets, skin­less and well trimmed
2 tbsps olive oil
5 cloves gar­lic, minced
2 red bell pep­pers, sliced
1 bunch aspara­gus, cut into tips and same-size stalk bites
1/2 white wine
1/2 cup chick­en stock
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 tbsp Ital­ian seasoning
1 small log goats cheese
1/2 pound spaghetti
1 cup fresh grat­ed pecori­no or parmesan

Now then. In a large heavy skil­let, melt the but­ter and then arrange the sage leaves in as close to a sin­gle lay­er as you can man­age. Fry over medi­um heat, watch­ing fair­ly care­ful­ly that they don’t scorch, until they’re crispy, a few min­utes. Remove care­ful­ly and place on paper tow­els. Now place the chick­en breasts in the same skil­let and saute, turn­ing fre­quent­ly. When they are NEAR­LY cooked through (still a bit of pink vis­i­ble in the cen­ter, which is vis­i­ble even with­out cut­ting into it), deglaze the skil­let with the white wine and chick­en stock and lemon juice, and bub­ble down a bit. Don’t let the chick­en get tough, and remem­ber the breasts will con­tin­ue to cook slight­ly when you take them off the heat. Remove them to a carv­ing plat­ter with a groove around the edge to catch the juice and set aside, leav­ing the sauce in the skillet.

Put your pas­ta water on, and when it’s boil­ing, dump in your spaghet­ti. Then, in a fresh skil­let, add the olive oil and stir fry the gar­lic, red pep­pers and aspara­gus. Sprin­kle on the Ital­ian sea­son­ing and toss well.

Slice the chick­en breasts thin-ish and throw them and their juice into the skil­let with the sauce. Throw the pep­pers and aspara­gus into the skil­let too, and turn the heat up fair­ly high. Drain your cooked spaghet­ti and throw it in the skil­let too. Toss every­thing togeth­er with tongs until thor­ough­ly mixed. Then just with your hands, crum­ble the goats cheese over all and toss lightly.

Place in a pret­ty, shal­low serv­ing bowl and slight­ly crum­ble the sage leaves over top. Don’t crum­ble them too small or you will miss the fla­vor and crunch which are DIVINE. Like sage-flavoured pota­to chips (my child adores them). Voila! This dish is just beau­ti­ful: green, red, yel­low, white, and so GOOD for you.