It had been raining non-stop for several days in Charlotte, and I think I was wishing for sunshine the other day as this recipe uses a lot of yellow ingredients. I think it worked, because after I started cooking, the sun came out! (I swear). Anyways, I hadn't made spaghetti squash in long time, and was craving it after picking up a pretty little yellow thing at the farmers market for under a dollar. I wanted to pair it with something other than marinara sauce though. So after surveying the kitchen and thinking sunny thoughts, I came up with this!
Spaghetti Squash can be a fun and healthy alternative to eating pasta. In this dish chicken breast is thinly pounded out, breaded and then baked with lemon slices as the squash roasts. The "spaghetti" and breaded chicken breast are tossed together and finished off with a zested lemon cream sauce topped with basil. The cream sauce is made healthy by using chicken broth and a just two tablespoons of light cream. Simple fresh chopped basil compliment the bright lemon flavor.
Ingredients
serves 4
1 medium squash
1 lb of chicken breast, evenly pounded out
1 cup of whole wheat bread crumbs
1 lemon
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp light cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 bunch of basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. With a fork, poke a few holes into the squash and bake for 1 hour. (Be careful not to overcook squash since it will become too soft and soggy.) While the squash in baking, pound out each chicken breast to about 3/4" thick. Dip each chicken breast into an egg white and cover with bread crumbs. Cover each piece of chicken breast with slice of lemon and place in glass baking dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes until cooked through. Discard the lemons and slice into smaller pieces.
Transfer the baked squash to a large plate and set aside until cool enough to handle. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Remove seeds, and then using a fork, scrape squash out of rinds and transfer to a large bowl.
To make the sauce: In 1 teaspoon of butter, saute 1/2 a teaspoon of garlic and lemon zest over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup of chicken stock, the juice of half of a lemon and cook for 2-3 minutes and then lower heat. Add the light cream and parmesan cheese. Let simmer for 5 minutes until sauce is blended and slightly thickened.
Serve chicken over the spaghetti squash and top with the lemon cream sauce. Season with salt and pepper and top with fresh basil. Enjoy!
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This recipe sounds very good and i think it is delicious and it fits perfect with my taste. My opinion is that this isn`t a very hard recipe so i will try it very soon, thanks a lot for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHow much light cream?
ReplyDeleteYou add just 2 tablespoons of light cream.
ReplyDelete@declaratii Thank you! You're right, it's pretty easy to make. Let me know how it turns out!
this looks amazing!!!!!
ReplyDeletehow long does it take to roast the squash? How do you know when it is done, if you are roasting it whole??
ReplyDeleteI normally bake the squash for about 1 hour, but check it by cutting it open around the 50 minute mark. If it still needs to bake longer, it's okay to bake the rest of way cut open.
ReplyDelete