Tomato Spinach Chicken Spaghetti

Today's recipe is from Julia's Album

30 minutes from start to finish! What makes this pasta very special is that in addition to fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, and spinach, I also used sun-dried tomatoes and red pepper flakes to add lots of flavour. Once the dish is completely cooked, we highly recommend that you add 3 tablespoons of high quality olive oil to stir into the final dish, off heat. It’s so tasty and so good for you.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped, drained of oil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, drained from sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/2 pound chicken boneless, skinless (preferably, boneless skinless thighs), chopped
• salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 8 oz fresh spinach
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 6 oz spaghetti or angel hair pasta
• (OPTIONAL) 3 tablespoons high quality olive oil or oil from the sun-dried tomatoes jar

1. Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, drained from sun-dried tomatoes, to a large skillet, on medium-low heat. Add chopped chicken (Julia uses boneless skinless chicken thighs and prefer to use them, but you can use chopped chicken breast, as well), red pepper flakes, and salt over all of the ingredients in the skillet, and cook on medium heat until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
2. Add chopped tomatoes, chopped fresh basil leaves, fresh spinach, and chopped garlic to the skillet with chicken, cook on medium heat about 3- 5 minutes until spinach wilts just a little, and tomatoes release some of their juices. Remove from heat. Taste, and add more salt to taste, if needed. Cover with lid and keep off heat.
3. Cook pasta according to package instructions, until al dente. Drain, and add cooked and drained pasta to the skillet with the chicken and vegetables. Reheat on low heat, mix everything well, add more seasonings (salt and pepper), if desired. Remove from heat.
4. At this point, when the pasta and vegetables are off heat, you can add more high quality olive oil, which is really tasty. Or you can add more olive oil from the jar from the sun-dried tomatoes.