RECIPE: Cajun Chicken & Shrimp Pasta

A Facebook (and high school) friend just asked for this recipe so I thought I would share it here too. Since sharing this pic on instagram I am asked for this recipe pretty often. It's so simple and tasty.

My husband says this is his favorite dish and it may become a favorite in your house too. The recipe and ingredients are below. Please keep in mind that I am a MomChef so my measurements may not always be numerical. 

Shall we proceed? Yes - indeed!

INGREDIENTS:

Olive Oil

1 tablespoon of butter

4 slices thick bacon, cooked & chopped

baby portebello mushrooms - a handful, chopped

cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1lb of large Shrimp, peeled & deveined

4 thin skinless boneless chicken breast (4 normally come in a pack)

green onion, chopped

minced garlic - 1 teaspoon

parsley, dried is fine - use fresh if you're feeling fancy

1lb fettuccine noodles

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup chicken broth

Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (just leave it on your counter 😉)

Parmesan Cheese

THE ROAD TO GLORY:

Cook fettuccine noodles to al denté according to package instructions. Remember to salt and oil your water. Reserve about 1 cup of pasta water when draining noodles.

Place shrimp in a medium bowl. Drizzle with Olive Oil. Season with half a tablespoon of Tony's. (You can always use more, I do. The more you use the spicier it will be!) Heat enough oil in a pan to cook the shrimp, about 1/4 a cup.  Cook the shrimp until they are a nice pretty pink. Remove shrimp from pan. 

Cook your bacon until crispy. Drain the bacon on paper towels. Crumble or chop the bacon once it has cooled. 

Melt one tablespoon of butter and cook the mushrooms and cherry tomatoes until the mushrooms are wet and tomatoes are soft. Remove from pan.

Season both sides of chicken breast with Tony's and cook it until is done. It will cook fast if you're using thin breast. You may want to open a window at this point.

Once the chicken is done remove it from the pan. Deglaze your pan using the chicken broth. Turn on your stove fan. I hope your window is open.

Using a spatula scrape all the good bits in the pan to the center of the pan. Add your garlic. It should smell really good in your kitchen by now.

Stir in the heavy cream until it mixes well with the broth. Add two big sprinkles (handfuls) of parmesan cheese. Whisk like there is no tomorrow. You do not want your cheese clump. (If it does it's okay. This is so good no one will care about clumped cheese.) Add a half of a tablespoon of the Tony's to your cheese sauce. Stir. Taste. Add more until you reach your preferred level of spiciness. 

Add noodles to sauce and toss to coat evenly. Top your pasta with the mushrooms, tomatoes and shrimp. Sprinkle parsley, bacon crumbles and green onion on top. Plate with chicken breast.