Linguine in White Wine Sauce
Dear pasta, I love you, and you will always be my best friend. You are so comforting when I have a bad day. You don’t care if I put you in the oven or cook you on the stove. You play along on the days when I’m trying to eat healthy or when I want to coat you in loads of decadent cheese. Your style is so creative – sometimes straight, sometimes curly. You too, have thin days and fat days. We are like a match made in heaven.
And this recipe continues to cement my love. The sauce is creamy and rich because of the buttery wine reduction yet it’s balanced by the saltiness of capers and the heartiness of mushrooms and chicken while the lemon and parsley add a nice bite of freshness. It involves layering the flavors as you cook by deglazing the pan to capture each layer of taste into the sauce. Have your ingredients ready to go and it cooks really fast.
Linguine in White Wine Sauce Recipe
Serves 1; easily double for 2.
Ingredients
- 2-3 chicken tenders or 1 small chicken breast
- 5-6 sprigs asparagus
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup baby portabella mushrooms, thickly sliced (use more of less to taste)
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp butter (dived 1/2 Tbsp and 1/2 Tbsp)
- 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 serving of linguine
- 3/4 cup dry white wine, room temperature (divided, 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup)
- 1 and 1/2 Tbsp capers (or 2 Tbsp to taste)
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest (about 1 small lemon)
- 1/2 ounce havarti or fontina cheese (or more to taste)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
Directions
- Prepare your ingredients
- Peel and mince 2-3 cloves of garlic.
- Wash and thickly slice the mushrooms into about 1 cup.
- Wash and rinse the asparagus. Snap off the end (the ends often taste tough). Do this by bending the end of the asparagus stalk with your fingers, and it will break.
- Remove the parsley leaves from the stems and roughly chop into about 2 Tbsp.
- Cube the havarti or fontina cheese (soft cheese is difficult to grate and is not necessary in this recipe. Cubing it will suffice.)
- Heat a grill, grill pan, or non-stick skillet over medium heat. Spray the chicken breast or chicken tenders and the asparagus with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. Add the chicken and asparagus to the grill/skillet. Cook the asparagus for about 4-5 minutes until cooked, but still a little crisp. Cook the chicken until fully cooked. (The asparagus will be cooked before the chicken is finished). Set aside.
- In a stainless steel skillet, add 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil and 1/2 Tbsp of butter and heat over medium heat. If you do not have a stainless steel skillet use a non-stick skillet or the same skillet used for the chicken.*
- Add the garlic and 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes to the skillet. Cook for 2 minutes. If the garlic browns quickly, pull the pan away from the heat and reduce the temperature. You don’t want the garlic to burn.
- Keeping the skillet at medium heat, add the mushrooms, 1/8 tsp of salt, and 1/8 tsp of pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the mushrooms begin to soften.
- Begin heating a saucepan of water to cook the linguine al dente according to the package. The pasta will continue to cook for an additional few minutes when you add it to the skillet so you want it al dente.
- Add 1/2 cup of white wine to the skillet. You want the wine to be room temperature so it does not reduce the temperature of the skillet. Allow the wine to simmer for about 3-5 minutes.
- When most of the wine is reduced, turn the heat down to low and add 1/2 Tbsp of butter, 1 tsp lemon zest, the cheese, and 1 and 1/2 Tbsp of capers (or up to 2 Tbsp, depending on your taste). As you are adding ingredients, if the skillet becomes too dry and the ingredients begin to stick, add additional wine.
- Cut the cooked chicken and asparagus into small, bite sized pieces.
- Stir in the al dente pasta, grilled chicken, grilled asparagus, and fresh parsley until the pasta is coated and the chicken and asparagus have rewarmed, about 1-2 more minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the pasta to set for 1-2 minutes to absorb flavors.
- If the pasta seems dry, remove it from the skillet and add the remaining wine to the skillet and bring the it back up to low heat. Using a spatula, scrap the flavors from the pan as the wine begins to simmer and reduce. Pour the sauce over the pasta.
- Serve with chopped fresh parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice.
*A stainless steel skillet versus a non stick skillet works best when deglazing the pan. But if all you have is a nonstick pan that will work fine.
Adjust the amount of capers, lemon and vegetables to your liking. You can cook the asparagus in the skillet with the mushrooms, but I am particular about the asparagus having a little crunch to it so I like it either grilled or steamed and stirred in at the end. The amount of cheese in this dish is minimal because you want the lemony wine sauce to to be the prominent flavor, not a cheese sauce. If you don’t have wine on hand you can substitute chicken/vegetable stock or dry vermouth, but I prefer the taste of the dry wine.
In all my years of cooking for one I still overestimate a single serving of pasta. Granted, I don’t try THAT hard because I love pasta. So use your best judgement on what you determine to be a single serving of pasta. My eyes seem to think two servings is one.
Use the Extra Ingredients
Keep the extra capers in the refrigerator to stir into tomato sauces, eggs, or pasta. They add a nice salty punch to a dish.
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