Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Lemon Greek Yogurt Pasta with Chicken, Squash and Zucchini

Here in Phoenix, the orange blossoms are in bloom and citrus is plentiful.  This makes my brain spin with creative citrus ideas, whether there happens to be citrus in my kitchen or not.  A few nights ago, one of my good friends was coming over for a meeting, and I wanted to cook dinner for him.  Believe it or not, this meal came out of the last random things I had left in my cupboards that are desperate for me to grocery shop.

My head thought, can you make a sauce with greek yogurt?  Could that include citrus flavors? What if I used the squash and zucchini Jessica got me for my birthday?  Could that all go together well?

And so, I googled.  My research confirmed that my instincts were correct, and these flavors could in fact work together. Here are the results:

I sliced one zucchini and one squash and sauteed them in a frying pan with some Meyer lemon olive oil, and basil.  I sauteed them until they were slightly see-through. I cut two chicken breasts into bite size pieces and also sauteed them in a frying pan with lemon olive oil and a little lemon juice, seasoned with basil, lemon pepper, and some garlic.  I boiled a box of whole wheat linguine and set it aside.  In a bowl, I mixed together 1/2 cup of greek yogurt, 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese, and some lemon peel.  I first added the zucchini and squash, then the chicken, and then the pasta, tossing it all together well.

Sadly, I did not have any actual lemons on hand at the moment.  I hope to make this recipe again when I do.  For readers who do have lemons on hand, I would recommend thinning the greek yogurt with the juice of one or two lemons, and as well as adding zest to either the chicken or the sauce.  If you do not have lemon olive oil, you could make your own by simply mixing olive oil with lemon juice.  Also, if any readers had cherry tomatoes on hand, I suspect those would be a lovely addition, and one could throw those in with the zucchini and squash partway through sauteing.

Happy citrus season! Enjoy.

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