Chicken Enchilada Pasta

There is a local restaurant in New Orleans called Semolina. At one point they had 4 of them. I think they are down to two or three. It is an Italian restaurant with a Louisiana flair. They have shrimp pasta dishes, crawfish pasta dishes, etc.

There is a chicken enchilada pasta dish that my wife gets every single time we would go there. When we ever go to visit and we eat there, that is what she is getting.

Earlier this year I was in Trader Joe's and I found this awesome packet in the freezer section. It's a Chicken Fajita packet. Basically it has onions, green and red bell peppers diced, fajita spices in a separate package, and cooked chicken in a separate package. With a new baby at the time, I thought this would be a quick and easy dish. Heat everything up for 5-7 minutes, and eat with tortillas and toppings. It's really good and for 2.99, it's worth it not to have to deal with chicken, dicing etc.

So one day I was inspired to try to recreate the dish by Semolina. After 2 or 3 times, it's almost perfect.

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

1 onion
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
chicken
1 pound of pasta--I use penne
jalapenos
cheese
Taco Seasoning--this is the best recipe and stores easily(no more Taco Bell seasoning)
cream/half n half/milk

You can sub and do varieties. For example I use a Trader Joe's bag for my veggies, but you could just as easily dice what I have in the ingredients. The best chicken to use for this dish is a rotisserie chicken. Get one from Publix or Costco or wherever you shop. They are already cooked, they are juicy, and they taste delicious.

I toss some olive oil in the bottom of a pot, throw the veggies in and let cook. Use the taco seasoning liberally. In the meantime, I cook up my pasta. Easy thing to miss, but when cooking pasta, undercook by a minute on package since it is going to get heated in the dish. Also, add kosher salt to the pot. Once veggies are soft, I throw in the chicken, and heat everything up. Then I add the cream, I just ballpark it until it looks like a good amount. Heat that up stirring. Then throw in jalapenos (the ones in jar work great), and cheese to get a decently thick sauce. Add the cooked pasta and stir. You should be good on salt if you salted your pasta correctly. But you might want some extra seasoning. The more seasoning, the more kick. I might add some more cream if it is too thick, because the penne really soaks up the sauce. Heat through for a couple of minutes, then serve and top with cheese. Any mexican/chedder type blend will work. I bet a blend with some pepper jack would work really well also.

Serve and enjoy. This dish is great for leftovers also. Doesn't get oily like a fettuccine.