Pasta! Pasta! Pasta! #Recipe

One of my favorite Sunday night activities is to invite a few friends over to my house and cook them a yummy dinner. I find cooking to be extremely meditative which definitely helps me to sort out  my anxiety for the week to come. Lately I have been completely obsessed with a pasta recipe which was given to me from a close family friend. In the past week I have already made this pasta twice! That being said, last night I had 2 of my girlfriends over and decided to make them this pasta dish (for the 3rd time this week!)

This recipe is super simple and takes around 45 minutes to make, feeds about 5. Of course, all the items can be found at Trader Joe's :)  I know some of the ingredients are not traditional to most pastas dishes (capers and olives) but trust me, it's amazing!

Santa Monica Pasta Recipe, Gluten Free

1 Package gluten free rice pasta

1 Jar Tomato Sauce (I use Arrabiata since I enjoy it spicy!)

½ onion, diced

1.5 TBS crushed garlic

2 TBS Capers

¾ Can of Green Olives, (slice them into 3rds)

3 Shiitake Mushrooms, (large)

½ cup sliced mushrooms

¼ cup pine nuts

2 chicken breast, sliced

4 TBS Olive Oil

Salt (to taste)

Cook the GF rice pasta according to the package. Strain and set aside.

In a large pan, add the olive oil, onion and garlic and sauté for 7 minutes, add a few sprinkles of salt. Next add to the sauté mixture the mushrooms, olives, and capers. Add about half of the olive juice in the can to the sauté mixture. Let simmer with a lid on stirring occasionally for 5-10 minutes. Then add the sliced chicken to the mixture on med-low heat with the lid on for 10 minutes (or until cooked), stirring occasionally. Finally, add the Arrabiata sauce to the chicken mixture and put on low heat to simmer or another 5 to 10 minutes.

Add the sauce mixture to the cooked pasta and toss while adding the pine nuts.  That’s it! Enjoy! 

P.s. If there are any leftovers, this dish is amazing right out of the fridge, its like cold pizza!