Anyone who thinks they are a patient person should try boiling water.
A lot of times I describe "easy" recipes by stating that the hardest part is boiling the water. To some that may seem like an exaggeration, but to me, it's the truth. Anyone who claims that they have the gift of patience has clearly never waited for water to boil at 1am after coming home from the bar in college. I would like to say that my cooking really evolved late at night in college, attempting to feed my roommates with my creations. Frank's special is a dish I created around junior year of college. It involved pasta, garlic powder (the recipe has since evolved to contain fresh garlic in my later age), parmesan cheese, and the meal's namesake, Frank's Red Hot sauce. Frank's special was invented late one night while walking the two mile leg home on Commonwealth ave to our luxury high rise dorm rooms. To this day, my palette craves hot sauce whenever I have a beer or two.
The reward of Frank's special was so intense because of the wait. Boiling water seems like it would take 5 minutes to be ready, but somehow always ends up taking three hours. I'm not sure if anyone else has this problem, but does the 11 allotted minutes to form bubbles under heat always seem to take hours and hours? I'm still guilty of throwing dried penne pasta into water that has just begun to form bubbles and of course immediately regretted my decision. Al dente pasta takes a new form when you are ridiculously hungry.
When it comes to today's recipe, I truly mean it when I say the hardest part is boiling the water. Because it's truly hard to wait that long. When recipes tell you to start off by heating a large pot of water, do yourself a favor and follow the instructions. This sauce comes together in less than 15 minutes and you'll be cursing yourself waiting for your pasta to cook. Anyone looking for the full recipe for Frank's special, hit me up. It's a classic I still make today.
Ingredients:
1 pound dried pasta
1 pound chicken diced into 1/4 inch cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp unsalted butter
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup cherry tomatoes
3 cups fresh arugula
In a large pot bring water to boil and cook pasta according to box instructions. In a medium sized skillet heat olive oil to medium heat and cook garlic for 30 seconds. Add in diced chicken and brown for 6 - 8 minutes on both sides. Remove chicken from skillet and add in butter. Melt butter and then add in lemon juice and white wine. Add in tomatoes and chicken and cover the skillet. Cook until tomatoes "burst" and the liquid is released. Uncover and stir in the arugula. Serve over pasta.
1 pound dried pasta
1 pound chicken diced into 1/4 inch cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp unsalted butter
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup cherry tomatoes
3 cups fresh arugula
In a large pot bring water to boil and cook pasta according to box instructions. In a medium sized skillet heat olive oil to medium heat and cook garlic for 30 seconds. Add in diced chicken and brown for 6 - 8 minutes on both sides. Remove chicken from skillet and add in butter. Melt butter and then add in lemon juice and white wine. Add in tomatoes and chicken and cover the skillet. Cook until tomatoes "burst" and the liquid is released. Uncover and stir in the arugula. Serve over pasta.
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