Grilled Chicken & Vegetable Penne with Basil Pesto

I went to the Farmer’s Market a few weeks ago and was in heaven with the beautiful fresh produce. They were selling huge bunches of basil for $1.00! So I initially thought pesto. Then with the tomatoes and onions from the market along with what was in our fridge, plus a quick run to the grocery store (who keeps pine nuts on hand, really?), I came up with this colorful, fresh, delicious dish. If you haven’t caught on, everything I usually make feeds about 5-6 people, aka my family. So if yours is smaller or it’s you flying solo, I would cut this in halve. Other than the basil pesto, you can alter whatever you want. If anything, hopefully it inspires you to make something you’ll love.

Grilled Chicken
• 3-4 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Basil Pesto- makes 2 cups
• 6 Cloves Garlic
• 4 cups Fresh Basil Leaves, lightly packed
• 1/3 cup Pine Nuts
• Generous pinch of Maldon or other flaky Sea Salt
• 1 cup Olive Oil (extra-virgin of course)
• ½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated
• 1/3 cup Pecorino Romano, grated

Vegetables
• 3-4 Tomatoes, halved then quartered
• 1 Red Onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 Orange Pepper, sliced in thin strips
• 1 Yellow Pepper, sliced in thin strips
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2-3 cups Arugula

Pasta
• 1 lb. Penne Pasta
• Salt

Directions
Toss the chicken breasts in olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Heat the grill. Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot and add 3 tablespoons kosher salt.

For the Basil Pesto, with the motor running, drop the garlic into a food processor to chop it. Add the basil, pine nuts and salt and pulse until the basil and nuts are coarsely chopped, then process until finely chopped. With the motor running, drizzle in the oil. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the parmigiano and pecorino.



Combine the tomatoes, red onion, orange and yellow pepper into a large mixing bowl, lightly coat with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.



*I just wanted to show how amazing and colorful the vegetables look!

Add to a large sauté pan over medium-high heat to slightly cook the vegetables.


Return to the large mixing bowl and toss the vegetables with the arugula.


Begin grilling the chicken and drop in the pasta and cook until just al dente. Once the chicken is cooked, cut into bite size pieces and add to the vegetables.


Finally, toss the penne, basil pesto, chicken and vegetables together (you will likely need a very large bowl).


Since my brother is allergic to gluten, we make a separate gluten-free penne in addition to the other penne. In this case I can’t toss everything together, so I did it separately in each dish. First add the pasta, then the vegetables and chicken, top with some pesto and toss. It’s obviously more time consuming since you have to make a few smaller dishes, and be cautious or cross-contamination, but this way we can all eat it! And it was very good!!