Mexican-Style Pasta With Chicken and Peppers

punkarooni's Note:

I just tried this yummy low calorie recipe. It was very quick and easy since I used leftover chicken. Taken from Time Life's Fast, Fresh and Delicious cookbook. After tasting it, I can guess that shredded cheese and red pepper flakes would also go very well with it. Hope you like it too!

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• 4 plum tomatoes or 6 whole canned tomatoes , well drained
• 3 scallions
• 1 large green bell pepper
• ¾ lb vermicelli or ¾ lb other thin pasta
• ½ lb boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped mild green chilies , drained
• ¼ teaspoon salt (omit if using regular chicken broth)
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro stem (optional)

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken broth, garlic, cumin and chili powder to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Meanwhile, coarsely chop the tomatoes, scallions and bell pepper. Break the vermicelli into 2-inch pieces.
3. Add the chicken to the boiling broth, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove the chicken and set it aside to cool slightly.
4. In a large nonstick skillet, warm the oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the vermicelli and cook, stirring, until the vermicelli is lightly browned, about 2 minutes.
5. Add the broth mixture, tomatoes, scallions, bell pepper, green chilies and salt, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is cooked, about 7 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, shred the chicken. Mince the cilantro (if using).
7. Stir the shredded chicken and cilantro into the pasta mixture and serve hot.

Reviews

[zoomazoomzoom]

This was an excellent dish. The reason that I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 was because the recipe would not be as good without some necessary tweaking. Personally, I added 4 garlic cloves, 2tsp cumin, 2tsp chili pwdr, 1/2tsp chipotle pwdr, 1/2tsp ground pepper, and some lime juice, and topped it with shredded cheese... basically every recommendation from other reviewers and it turned out great.

[fyrebreathing]

honestly i thought it had too many tomatos and not enough chicken the cheese on top id seen from someone elses post was its only saving grace in my opinion plus id leave out the cilantro stems even tho i love cilantro.

[sheepdoc]

Good way to dress up the ordinary chicken breast and also to use up summer tomatoes. Used a box of chicken broth, 2 chicken breasts and spaghetti. I didn't use enough spaghetti since there were only three of us but needed to use the full amount to absorb all the liquid. Did not use green peppers since no one likes them. The can of chiles was just right - not too hot for the wimpy.