Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Orecchiette {Pasta}

Why can’t we have a Whole Foods Market here?!? I need one, I want one! The closest one is like an hour away. 🙁  Now some people might not care, but others know exactly what I’m talking about when I say “Whole Foods Heaven”. All we have to choose from here is Food Lion, Piggly Wiggle and Old Dutch. Ehh. Well Food Lion isn’t so bad but it depends on what location you go to.

Anyways, last Saturday I was able to stop at the Whole Foods in Raleigh for a bit to look around before we headed home for the day. Every time I step into that store I feel like a kid in a candy store. “oo look at this, oo what’s over here, oo I NEED that!”

One of the items that did manage to follow me home was a package of Sun-Dried Tomatoes. *Organic  Sun-Dried Tomatoes to be exact. haha. It makes me feel healthier to put that in there haha* We have Sun-Dried Tomatoes in the stores at home but they are normally packed in this goopie oil and don’t look good.

Since I had these lovely Sun-Dried Tomatoes, I decided to do a little experimenting in the kitchen. I wanted to use some of the fun foods that I had picked up while at Whole Foods and anytime I “experiment” in the kitchen I always feel like I’m on “chopped” so I was thankful that this dish turned out pretty darn good.

I didn’t add any sugar to this recipe  BUT if the sauce is too bitter for you a little bit of sugar normally sweetens the sauce up nicely.
🙂

(Printable Recipe Here)

Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Orecchiette {Pasta}

by Angie Barrett March-14-2013

Ingredients

1/2 cup of chopped Sun-Dried Tomatoes (I used Organic Sun-Dried Tomatoes from Whole Foods)

1/2 cup of diced mushrooms

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 basil leaves, chopped

1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup of water (add more if you want the sauce to be thinner)

2-3 chicken breast cooked and cut into bite size pieces

2 cups Orecchiette pasta, uncooked (I used Organic Orecchiette from Whole Foods)

* Mozzarella cheese, shredded**Optional

Instructions

Boil a large pot of water. Add a little salt and then add orecchiette pasta. Cook 12-14 minutes or until it reaches the desired tenderness.

While the pasta is cooking make the sauce. In a sauce pan, over medium heat, heat the olive oil and saute the mushrooms. Once the mushrooms are tender, add the sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped basil leaves, thyme and garlic powder. Add in 1 cup of water and whisk. (If a thinner sauce it wanted add more water) Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes. 

Drain pasta. Toss noodles with sauce and cooked chicken. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Yields

4 servings

Do you shop at Whole Foods? What’s your favorite things to buy there? I need ideas for when I go back! I don’t want to miss anything awesome!