Recipe for My Creamy Spinach Pasta with Grilled Chicken

A couple of weeks ago I got a craving for some pasta with a creamy, spinach sauce and some grilled chicken on top.  Yesterday, I finally decided to make it for myself for lunch and it was delicious!  I usually make creamed spinach from scratch, but I didn't have any fresh spinach in the house so I improvised.

1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp of minced shallot
9 oz box of frozen, creamed spinach
Milk
Pepper and nutmeg to taste
Butter
Asiago cheese, freshly grated
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
You favorite pasta, cooked

I fired up my countertop grill/griddle with the grill plates, rubbed a little Wegmans Basting Oil onto the chicken breasts and grilled them for 4 minutes with the grill top down.  I put the frozen, creamed spinach in the microwave to thaw.

I heated 1/2 tbsp of butter into a small saucepan (you can use any kind of oil, instead, if you like) and sautéed the shallot for 5 minutes until very soft.  Then I tossed in the garlic and sautéed for another minute or two until the garlic was cooked (you can smell the difference) but didn't brown.

Then I added in the thawed, creamed spinach and heated it up.  I added some 1% milk (you could also use heavy cream), probably about 1/2 cup, but you can add more or less to get the thin or thick consistency you want. Once the milk was heated through and I had the consistency I wanted, I turned off the heat and grated a palmful of Asiago cheese into the pan, stirring until it melted.  I just happened to have received a hunk of asiago cheese for Christmas, but you can use Parmesan, Romano, whatever you have.

Then I added pepper and nutmeg to taste.  I have the actual "nuts" and love grating some fresh nutmeg into spinach dishes and broccoli soups.  Mmmmm!  I have heard many TV chefs say that if you don't have fresh nutmeg to grate into a dish, don't bother putting any in, like the nutmeg in spice jars won't add any benefit to a dish or will ruin it.  However, I am sure many generations of pie bakers out there would disagree!  ;o)

This made enough sauce for 3 servings of pasta.  I removed 2/3 of the sauce from the pan to a tupperware bowl to save for later, and added 1 portion of spaghetti (my pasta of choice) into the saucepan and mixed it in with the sauce.

I put the pasta with creamy spinach sauce in a bowl, topped it with half a chicken breast, sliced up, and then grated some more Asiago on top of the chicken.  Man, was it good!  And everything, including cooking the pasta, took less than 30 minutes; a perfectly doable lunch.

If you try this recipe, let me know what you think!