Ingredients
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400 grams dry bucatini pasta
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3 boneless skinless chicken breastssliced thinly across the width
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200 grams shitake mushroomssliced about the width of half your thumbnail
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4 clove garlic
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1 bunch continental parsley leavesfinely chopped
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shaved parmesan shards
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extra virgin olive oil
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White Wine
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pepper grinder
Directions
I used to fancy myself as somewhat of a runner, although now I tend to get winded running to catch the telephone before message bank picks up. “Hello…..pant…..pant…..pant…..Paul speaking.” When I was running I used to eat pasta at least 4 times a week and I found myself having to get rather creative if I didn’t want to live off a perpetual cycle of Bolognese, Arrabiata, and Boscaiola. That time in my life was when I created this dish. Even though I no longer run, I do still eat this dish as though I were training for a marathon.
Because the sauce in this recipe is basically a slight coating of olive oil it is very important that you use only a quality extra virgin olive oil.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the bucatini slightly under al dente.
- Once the pasta is cooked to less than al’dente pour it into a large colander and cool the pasta immediately with running cold water (try to reserve the hot water).
- Replace the reserved pasta water or fresh water into the pot and return to boil.
- Pour a little olive oil in a pan and over med-high heat sauté the garlic until it is golden and remove immediately into a large mixing bowl.
- Wipe the pan clean and add a little more oil, and place on high heat.
- Season the thinly sliced chicken and sauté it until just under cooked and place it into the bowl with the garlic (it will finish cooking in the last stage).
- Replace the pan to high heat and pour a liberal amount of olive oil into the pan and add the mushrooms, season lightly with salt and pepper and sauté until lightly browned.
- With the mushrooms still in the pan over high heat add half of the chopped parsley stir with a wooden spoon and immediately deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine, continuing to stir with the wooden spoon to remove all the flavours in the bottom of the pan.
- Cook for another 30 seconds or so until all the alcohol has evaporated off the wine and add it all to the chicken and garlic.
- Pop the cork on a nice white, let it breathe, organise your 6 serving dishes, the parmesan garnish, and blanche the cold pasta in the boiling water until al’dente.
- Drain the pasta well, add to the chicken etc, toss it all with the remaining parsley and a little more olive oil if required and divide evenly amongst the 6 dishes, garnish with parmesan shards.
