Lemon and Herb Chicken Pasta with Olives and Mozzarella

Tonight I felt quite inspired! I came home and started cooking up a wonderful dish. Take a look! 

It was pretty darn good too!!! Anyways here is the recipe....

Ingredients:
1 lb Chicken Breast (sliced into "diamonds"....or just small pieces, scroll for demo)
1 lb pasta of choice
6 oz fresh mozzarella cheese (cut into small pieces)
3-4 oz of black or green olives (kalamata are perfect!)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil (to saute chicken)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil (for sauce)
2 Tbsp Butter (for sauce)
1/2 small red onion, sliced thin
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp celery seed (I promise, it makes a great addition!)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup lemon juice
**lemon wheels to garnish

Bring water to boil to cook the pasta. While that is coming to boil heat skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil to saute the chicken. While oil is heating slice your chicken.

First slice into strips, you can get about 4-5 strips out of 1 chicken breast. Then you can slice those strips at an angle to make little diamonds, I think it looks better than just cutting them into pieces. Small pieces are just as fine.

By this point your water should be boiling, go ahead and add your pasta and place a wooden spoon across the top, in case of a boil over the water won't boil over. The wooden spoon keeps it calm. Cook your pasta according to the box directions, when done drain and set aside. 

Season your chicken with 1tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper, toss around to coat and add to the heated pan, saute until cooked through, remove from the skillet and set aside. 

Add 2 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp butter to the pan, once melted add the sliced red onion. Saute for 3-4 minutes to give it a bit of color, the onion will also give off some moisture to add to the sauce. Add the herbs and lemon juice and garlic at this point and cook for 2-3 minutes. Garlic will burn if left on direct heat for too long so keep it moving. 

Add the pasta to the skillet and toss to combine. Add the chicken and olives and mozzarella cheese. Toss all and keep on the heat for 1-2 minutes just to heat the chicken, cheese, and olives. 

Serve it up with a wheel of lemon and a small pinch of parsley for added pizzaz! 

Let me know what you think if you try this! I thought it was great!

Enjoy, and don't forget to leave me your comments!

And as always, hold the nothing!

-Johnny