Pasta with Chicken and Sundried Tomatoes

I have a meeting tonight and need to prepare dinner before I leave.  My friend, Amber, created this dish - yes, that’s from scratch – a few words that have never been used to describe me and my cooking.  And another thing, Amber has a library of cookbooks that would dwarf my stack.  It's like heaven over there.

I enjoy the flavors of this dish – the sweetness of the sun-dried tomatoes, the nuttiness and crunch of the pine nuts and the comfort of the pasta and chicken.  This dish is easy to make at home or if you’re traveling and have access to a kitchen.  These proportions easily serve our family with plenty of leftovers.      

Ingredients:

Pasta with Chicken
and Sundried Tomatoes

1. 1 jar of sundried tomatoes (I prefer the julienne cut (vs whole or minced))
2. 1 container of pesto
3. 1 C pine nuts, toasted
4. 1 C of grated parmesan cheese
5. 1-1 ½ lb of chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks
6. 1 lb of cooked rigatoni, penne or mini-penne

Drain the sundried tomatoes.  Reserve 2 T of the oil in which to cook the chicken.  Saute the chicken breasts in the sundried tomatoes with 2 T oil.  When the chicken is cooked through, stir in the pesto (I tend to only use about half of the jar).  Pour this mixture onto the cooked pasta (I like the mini-penne) and add pine nuts (toast them first in a dry saute pan or in the oven) and parmesan.  Stir to mix.