Penne with Chicken, Sausage and Sprouts

Looking for quick, easy and delicious one pot meal that will fill your stomach on a weeknight? Here you go!

Time: 60 – 90 Minutes
Level: Easy
Cost: $6-8/plate
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chunked into roughly 1 – 1.5 inch cubes
• 12 oz – 1 lb smoked sausage (try Cajun Andouille for a little kick), sliced into 1/4 inch thick ‘coins’
• 1lb Brussels sprouts, lose leaves removed, and halved.
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (plus more for serving, if desired… who am I kidding, it’s desired).
• 6 cloves garlic, minced, divided (i.e., two piles of minced garlic of roughly 3 cloves each)
• 1 small shallot, minced
• 2 TBSP powdered, dried oregano
• 1 TBSP sweet paprika
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• Olive Oil

Prep

1. Bring 4-5 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot, for pasta.  Leave it simmering with a lid on so it’s ready to go when you are.
2. Preheat oven to 400F
3. Dice chicken into cubes.  In a large bowl, using your hands, mix cubed chicken well with drizzle of olive oil, oregano, paprika and salt and pepper.  Set aside.
4. Slice sausage and set aside in a separate bowl.
5. Toss sprouts in dash of olive oil,  1/2 of minced garlic and Parmesan cheese.  Arrange in a single layer on a lined baking sheet.
6. Combine white wine and chicken broth in a convenient container, set aside.

Cook

1. On a lined baking sheet, roast sprouts in a single layer in 400F oven for 20 minutes total, stirring them around at the half-way point to ensure even cooking and browning.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet or dutch oven, brown sausage over medium-high heat in 1 TBSP olive oil.  Once most of the (delicious) fat is rendered, remove sausage with a slotted spoon and reserve.
3. Brown the chicken on all sides in the same pan.
4. Add sausage back into the pan, along with white wine, chicken broth, minced shallot and remaining garlic.   Bring to a boil, and then simmer, allowing the liquid to reduce by about half.
5. While mixture is reducing, cook penne pasta according to package directions, about 12 minutes.
6. In the last two minutes, add sprouts to the chicken-sausage mixture and stir well.
7. Serve over penne pasta.