Penne with Chicken and Brussels Sprouts

Since the first recipe from the file wasn’t exactly what I would consider a winner (although it was certainly a good representation of some of the kinds of things that are in the file as a whole), I thought I’d flash forward to a recipe that I clipped and tucked into it. It couldn’t be any worse, and it contains no process cheese spread.

This recipe is from Gourmet’s October 1995 issue, and was one I cut out. I’m a little puzzled as to just what made me cut it out, and also to file it where I did. I think it’s telling of the age of the file itself that it has no “Pasta” section. Because it’s from at least the early 60s, and possibly the late 50s, there isn’t a separate folder section dedicated to pasta recipes. Thus this one, which is for penne with Brussels sprouts and chicken, got tucked into the Salads & Salad Dressings section, but I’m not sure why. One would think that I would have put it in with the other chicken recipes, in “Poultry” but I didn’t.

The reason I’m kind of surprised to find it in here at all is because I don’t think I even liked Brussels sprouts in 1995. I’m not quite sure when I overcame my fear of what is a much-maligned vegetable, but I didn’t think it was this early; perhaps it was. Either way, I’m grateful that I had enough foresight to cut the recipe out and save it, because now I can make it. Because it's credited to a reader, I suspect this was from the reader recipes column (whatever they called it--I forget now, but it used to be one of the best parts of the magazine; that and the column where you could write in about a great restaurant dish you'd had, and they'd track down the recipe for you. Bon Appetit still has both of these, to a greater or lesser degree; perhaps not surprising, since they're sister publications).

I often find myself wishing I’d saved recipes, specifically from magazines, from my earlier life. Oh, it’s true that I have so many recipes in cookbooks and magazines that if I started today and made a new recipe for every breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks a day for the rest of my life (and added no more cookbooks or magazines to my collection) that I might get through everything I have by the time I die (assuming a normal female human lifespan). Lord knows (and so does my husband) that I don’t really need any more recipes. But I’m a little sad, because I like so many more things now than I did then—Brussels sprouts, of course, but also mushrooms, shellfish, squashes, various beans, cabbage, endive, and many other things that don’t occur to me right now. If I still had all those recipes I disregarded because they had mushrooms in them, who knows what hidden gems I might find?

The upshot of this is that I now save all my cooking magazines intact. I have no idea where they’re all going to go. Sooner or later we’re going to run out of storage, and I’m going to have to bite the bullet and weed out some of them, but right now I’m enjoying the idea of having them all as resources, choices, a source for new discoveries.

But back to the pasta with Brussels sprouts and chicken. This recipe serves 4 to 6, but since I was making it for lunch for two, I halved the recipe. The only thing I didn’t halve was the Brussels sprouts, for two reasons. First, the more vegetables the merrier, and second, I knew that by the time I got done trimming and peeling off bruised leaves, I’d take them down a good quarter of a pound anyway.

Here are the primary raw ingredients (work with me here; it’s hard to make raw chicken breasts look good, no matter how good a photographer you are. And I am not a particularly good one, as it happens).


The premise of this recipe is that the chicken gets coated in flour and cornmeal, sautéed a little, and finished in the oven. The Brussels sprouts get blanched and sautéed in butter. The pasta gets tossed with the Brussels sprouts and a healthy dose of grated Parmesan cheese, and then the chicken gets sliced and stirred in. This seemed like a good lunch dish, because we often don’t eat much for dinner. With four kids who need to eat and go to bed before 7:30 p.m. it’s very hard to get them all fed, pajamaed, brushed, washed, and tucked in, and still do any kind of serious cooking for ourselves. Having a more substantial lunch, and then relying on more of a snack dinner, seems to be a better strategy.

I started by trimming the Brussels sprouts and, as predicted, they were reduced to a reasonable amount for two people. I blanched them as directed. A word of advice, don’t discard the leaves that come loose during cooking. Since these get sautéed in butter, they’ll be delicious. One of the best Brussels sprouts dishes I ever had was at a restaurant called the Four Swallows, where my aunt took me for my birthday last year. They served duck breast in a cherry-port sauce, with a side of sautéed Brussels sprouts, but they had peeled them into individual leaves and sautéed them in butter so each one got a little bit of caramelized crispiness on it, and was gently bathed in buttery flavor. I’ve since made them at home and I can recommend them highly. Deconstructing them like that makes them less threatening to those who are timid about Brussels sprouts.


I dredged and sautéed the chicken, and I must say, I thought it turned out beautifully.



I tucked it in the oven for the final baking, and it was perfect after 8 minutes. So often I find that recipe recommendations don’t live up to real life, and it always takes about 30% longer for anything to cook than the recipe says it should. But this was spot on, and they were perfectly done. I set the chicken aside and deglazed the pan with the chicken broth. A word of warning, something which I almost learned the hard way, but managed to avoid just in time: remember that this skillet you’re using has been in a 400 degree oven for the last almost ten minutes. From this point forward in the recipe, you shouldn’t touch the handle unless you have asbestos hands.

The butter melted quickly and the garlic almost got too brown. Rather than leave it in, I scooped it out and tossed it. I love garlic, but sliced garlic in big pieces is too much if you happen to bite into it while eating the finished product. There was a subtle garlic flavor that was sufficient. I let the Brussels sprouts sauté a little bit longer than the recommended two minutes, because I wanted them really caramelized.


Then I added everything else to the pan, as the recipe says, and added an extra squeeze of lemon juice for good luck (and Rachael Ray, kiss my ass—I saw a show once on which she suggested that you squeeze the lemon with the cut side facing the ceiling because the seeds wouldn’t get into your dish that way. I tried that one time and fast found out she was full of it—of course they get in there; I squeeze the lemon over my cupped palm and let the juice trickle off to the side. The seeds get caught in my hand, and the juice neutralizes any garlic or onion flavor from prep I might have done earlier). I had forgotten to reserve the pasta cooking water (I never remember to do that), so I just used chicken broth instead. I figured since I was using homemade chicken broth, it would be fine (it was).

Here’s the finished product. It’s just hard to make something like this look pretty. But it tasted good.

Next time I’d cut the chicken in smaller pieces, or perhaps serve it over the top of the pasta and Brussels sprouts in the dish. The sauce is more of a glazing, rather than a true sauce. It didn’t take long to make—half an hour, perhaps. Also, half the recipe was ample for four people. My husband and I each ate a reasonable serving, and there’s still plenty left. It’s quite filling, between the pasta, the chicken and all those Brussels sprouts.

Penne with Chicken and Brussels Sprouts
recipe from Gourmet magazine, October 1995
originally credited to Chris Amirault, Milwaukee, WI

1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
2 teaspoons dried thyme, crumbled
2 teaspoons dried sage, crumbled
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornmeal
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 whole skinless boneless chicken breasts (about 1 ½ pounds total), halved
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup chicken broth
¾ pound penne or other tubular pasta
4 garlic cloves, sliced thin
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large saucepan cook Brussels sprouts in boiling salted water 4 minutes, or until just tender. Drain Brussels sprouts in a colander and transfer to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking. Drain Brussels sprouts and transfer to a bowl.

In a small bowl combine thyme, sage, black pepper, and salt. In another small bowl combine 2 teaspoons herb mixture, flour, cornmeal, and cayenne. Rub another 2 teaspoons herb mixture all over chicken and dredge chicken in the flour mixture, shaking off excess.

In a 12- to 13-inch heavy ovenproof skillet heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and sauté chicken 3 minutes on each side, or until golden. Put skillet with chicken in oven and cook 8 minutes, or until cooked through. Transfer chicken with tongs to a cutting board and cool 5 minutes. Add broth to skillet and deglaze over high heat, scraping up browned bits. Pour broth mixture into a small bowl. Cut chicken diagonally into ¼-inch-thick slices and cover with foil.

In a 6-quart kettle bring 5 quarts unsalted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water and drain pasta in colander.

In the 12- to 13-inch skillet cook garlic in butter over moderate heat, stirring, until pale golden. Add Brussels sprouts and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes, or until pale golden. Add pasta, chicken, remaining herb mixture, broth mixture, lemon juice, ½ cup Parmesan, and ½ cup reserved pasta cooking water and toss well, adding remaining pasta cooking water if desired. Sprinkle remaining ¼ cup Parmesan over pasta.

Serves 4 to 6.