Southwestern Chicken Pasta

Am I the only person who goes to a restaurant, orders dinner, and then announces to the table that I can totally make what I ordered at home? Am I also the only person who, at least nine times out of ten, never actually follows-up on that promise because… well, because life is busy and I can’t possibly follow through on everything I say?

Anyway, what I’m getting at is that I get really inspired by menus and restaurant dishes, but I rarely try to recreate the dishes at home mostly because I have challenges in the organization department and tend to write notes on sticky pads that inevitably collect on my desk and in my purse only to be thrown away because I can’t figure out what I actually took note of – what was that? Something about pasta or pumpkin or potatoes?

So now I am using a note taking system and trying very hard to stay organized so I can hang on to and try out some of the many tasty inspirations I stumble across online and in real life.

And today I’m sharing one… Success!

This southwestern chicken pasta is inspired by a dish I’ve had several times at a restaurant called Top of the Hill here in Chapel Hill and it’s been sitting on my “gotta make this at home” list for about two years. It’s full of pasta, grilled chicken, fresh cherry tomatoes, sweet corn – all kinds of summery stuff. The best part is the light chipotle cream sauce that all that good stuff gets tossed in, but before I get to that let’s talk about the pasta…

I used a new-to-me shape for this dish – the pasta that looks like little radiators – called radiatori, which means -surprise!- radiators. It’s the perfect because the creamy chipotle sauce gets all inside the the little crevices, which is what you want for maximum sauce enjoyment – unlike relationships you want your pasta and sauce to be all co-dependent. It’s important! It’s also the perfect size to go along with everything else so each bite has a bit of everything – cherry tomato, corn, grilled chicken, and pasta all coated in the creamy, spicy sauce.

I’m someone who can eat creamy pasta dishes 365 days a year, but if you’re not don’t worry — the sauce is very light and adds just a touch of richness. It’s not a heavy, weigh you down wintry kind of pasta. Nope – it’s full of fresh flavor (tomatoes! corn! cilantro!) with just a hint of heat from the chipotle sauce, although I have a confession: I only used the sauce that the chipotles are in and didn’t actually chop up one of the chipotles and toss it in – I am a spicy food wimp and only like a smidge of heat. So, technically, my sauce should be called adobo sauce, but whatever. Do you like a lot of heat? If so, be sure to add one of the peppers.

So that’s it – a southwestern chicken pasta inspired by one our neighborhood restaurants. I hope you give it a try!

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