Penne with Chicken and Cheese

Hoho, long time no post. Contrary to what that might imply, I have been eating. Way too much, unfortunately. Hadi and Justin have been busy during dinner time this past week, so my meals consisted mainly of Indomie or Tex's Chicken, which are delicious foods in their own right.

And, this weekend, we've been holding open houses! Yay! Friday was at the UWE peep's house. It was sooooo festive! Cucul pun ada, as well as a Selamat Hari Raya sign. Raya songs were blaring, and there were so many happy people in baju Raya! Awww, so nice! The food was impressively delicious as well! Spaghetti (by Memie) and Chicken Briyani (by TJ) as well as another chicken dish and ic e cream for dessert! *drool* They were all very very well done. SO yummy... I ate so much, ahahaha :P Too bad I "forgot" to take pictures.

Yesterday, we held a dinner at me and Hadi's place instead. We didn't have any decorations (except for tealights! ehehehe) or any other festive markers :( Oh well. It started off slow, but soon a full-blown (friendly) argument was going on - and will continue to go on throughout the night. Very fun, ehehehe. Justin's friends joined us this time. The food was prepare d by me and Azriana exclusively, ehehehe. Azriana made her first lasagne! Yay! I also prepared Honey Garlic Chicken which were a slightly modified form of Justin's Soy and Honey Chicken, since I roasted it this time, and added some garlic besides. I was worried that it wasn't going to be favoursome enough, but with enough basting, it turned out really well! The lasagne too turned out well, so I'm sure Azriana is proud, ehehehe. Again, I don't have any closeup pictures of the food, but thankfully, baju kurungs are very loose ;) This picture, I think, captures the essence of the night perfectly :D

But anyway, the weekend is now drawing to a close, so I hope we'll be getting regular nutritious dinners again ;) Today's dish is something that I've made last year, in my pre-blog days, so I thought I'd give it another try. :)

What you need:
3 servings of pasta (about 300g, we used penne)
175h broccoli, cut into florets
4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, thinly sliced
225g boneless skinless chicken (we used drumsticks)
4 tablespoons plain flour
3 cups milk
Cheddar cheese, as much as you like
Parmesan cheese and garlic powder, to serve

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C
2. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to boil, add the pasta and cook according to the instructions on the packet until al dente. Add the broccoli for the last 5 minutes of the cooking time. Drain well.
3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the sliced onion until it begins to soften. Add the chicken and fry fently until tender. Add the flour and mix well.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and gradually mix in the milk. Season well, return to heat and bring to boil, stirring all the time. Stir in the drained pasta and broccoli, and a handful of cheese - as much as you want. Tip the mixture into a shallow ovenproof dish.
5. Sprinkle some more cheese over the top of the pasta, and pop into the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden brown.
6. Serve immediately, with parmesan cheese and garlic powder.

This is a very quick and easy dish for dinner. It takes so little time to prepare, I am so impressed! You don't even have to bake it, actually. Just stirring in the pasta, broccoli and cheese into the sauce in the saucepan would be good enough. In fact, that was the way I made it last year, but I decided to modify it a little.

Its also a really nice and warm dish, that is perfect for the upcoming winter nights (Its dark by 5 pm! Not fun!) It looks good! The broccoli gives a nice contrast to the white sauce. And its really delicious too!!! The chicken cook ed in butter is tender and has a subtle flavour. The white sauce is soooo cheesy! It burns quite easily at the bottom of the saucepan though, so make sure you stir really well when making it.

Of course, needless to say, with all the butter and cheese, this dish is quite...heavy. But its so good and easy, I think you won't regret making it. You don't even need to have chicken in it, although its a plus, that. :D

Quote of the day: Hunger is the best sauce in the world

Oh so true... how many things have you eaten while hungry and loved it so much, but when you next eat it, it really wasn't as special as you thought? But at least you've had your moment of pleasure, so I guess that's what counts, right? :D