Lemon Artichoke Spinach Pasta

I’ve been enjoying lemons for months now, thanks to my husband’s co-worker who’s willing to share. He must have a gigantic tree in his backyard because I get 30-40 lemons at a time from him and this year alone I’ve received at least 5-6 bags from him (love you, Rick!). His tree seems to put out an endless supply.

I realize my last post was also about lemons but it seems I’m still not done talking about them.

So my story is this: my work organized a luncheon for us last week and one of the things on the menu was a pasta with chicken and mushrooms drowning in some goopy sauce. It was “meh” and didn’t finish it. But it got me in the mood for something like it that I knew I could make much tastier. So on the way home that day, I went to Trader Joe’s and purchased everything I needed for this dish I wanted to put together. I envisioned lemons and artichokes, chicken and spinach in a light sauce, all coming together in a lovely marriage of flavors.

What I bought at Trader Joe's:
Lemon Pepper Pappardelle (see photo below but get GF pasta instead if you’re gluten-free)
Crimini mushrooms
A bag of pre-washed spinach
A jar of the artichoke antipasto shown here on the right --->
A can of artichokes in water (or get the marinated kind if you prefer)
Parmesan cheese, grated
Chicken breasts *
1 lemon
Fresh thyme

You should already have these at home:
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-2 garlic cloves or garlic powder
Butter, about 2 tsp.

I used about 1/2 of each of the items I bought, which makes about 2-3 servings.


Directions:
Start 1 pot of water to cook the pasta and another pot where you’re going to poach a chicken breast (if you didn’t buy their Lemon Chicken). While those pots of water are coming to a boil, wash and slice the mushrooms and chop the garlic. Add these to some butter you’ve melted in a sauce pan over medium heat. When the mushrooms and garlic are nearly cooked, add a few handfuls of spinach to wilt. Turn off the sauce pan and remove from the heat.

When the pots of water are boiling, add the pasta to the 1 (cook per the directions) and add the chicken to the other (it’ll cook a bit faster if you cut the chicken breast in half). Add a pinch of salt to each pot. To the chicken, I also added 1/2 lemon. I squeezed the juice into the pot and then threw in the actual lemon to the pot as well. I also added a sprig of thyme and a garlic clove to the chicken. When the water comes back to a boil, turn down the heat to simmer and poach for about 10 minutes. When cooked, remove from poaching liquid and slice the chicken.

Browning the artichokes would add another
dimension of flavor. Mmmhh...next time!

Turn the sauce pan with the ’shrooms, garlic and spinach back on. Add the pasta and chicken. Give it all a good stir until it’s good and warm. Add the artichoke hearts and a few tablespoons of the antipasto and continue stirring until just heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Unload onto a plate, squeeze some lemon juice over the whole thing, sprinkle on some parmesan cheese and OMG! Enjoy!

*You can either cook some raw chicken yourself or get their pre-cooked Lemon Chicken if you’re short on time. You can poach the chicken, like I did, or grill it, or just bake it. But know that that will all take a little longer than poaching it.