from dip to dinner
Recipe: roast chicken artichoke pasta
You’re probably familiar with artichoke dip. It’s a great goto appetizer for guests and especially when I used to host stitch-n-bitches. It really boils down to a lot of fat with fiber, I mean a lot of delicious fat with fiber! I’ve had it in restaurants and I can’t stand their versions because they skimp on the arties and load it with even more creamy filler. Blegh.
I made so much soup and stew and curry last week that we were working on leftovers when I remembered I had planned on roast chicken. The chicken wouldn’t wait and I didn’t want to chuck it in the freezer, so I went ahead and roasted it, then put it in the fridge. Instead of having it straight, I had a smack of inspiration.
preparing to harvest the meat
I stripped the bird of the meat and saved the carcass for chicken broth like any good cook would. I decided to make a twist on the artichoke dip and turn it into a hearty pasta dinner on the fly. I’m sure fresh artichokes would have been heavenly, but I was running short on time because I spent most of the day skiing with a bunch of tele babes – whoosh! I used trusty canned artichokes in the interest of time and less swearing.
quartered artichoke hearts
The dip recipe calls for blending everything together and baking it to heady goodness. I wanted to incorporate all of the flavors without baking anything. So I started with the minced garlic, except I used a lot more garlic than is called for in the dip recipe.
sauté garlic in olive oil
Once the sautéed garlic was fragrant, I added cooked penne and sautéed that for a few minutes before adding the chopped roast chicken and artichokes. You can add salt and pepper at this point, but since my roast chicken is typically well-seasoned, I don’t.
the hot mix
I removed the pot from the stove and grated about 2 cups of parmesan cheese over the pasta. I added 1.5 cups of mayonnaise as well as 1/2 cup of lemon juice. Most of these ingredients should be adjusted to your taste. I think I may have added a little more lemon juice – I love that stuff.
grating parmesan
mixing in the mayo, parm, and lemon juice
It’s a bit of a warm pasta salad dish. I guess I think of it as salad since it has mayo. It would have been great with a cream base sauce, but I’m trying to avoid dairy and the mayo lends more to the original artichoke dip.
artichoke dip as dinner
Roast Chicken Artichoke Pasta
[print recipe]
1 lb. roast chicken, chopped
24 oz. artichoke hearts, cooked, drained, quartered
1 lb. penne, cooked and drained
3 tbsps olive oil
8 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 cups Parmesan, grated (to taste)
1 1/2 cups, mayonnaise (to taste)
1/2 cup lemon juice (to taste)
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
In a large sautรฉ pan heat olive oil on high flame. Add garlic and sautรฉ until fragrant. Add the drained penne and sautรฉ for a few minutes. When the pasta is well-coated, toss in the chicken and artichokes and stir until thoroughly heated. Remove pot from heat. Toss in the Parmesan, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and parsley. Stir well and serve hot.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:19 am
YAY! Thanks for using canned artichokes. That’s all we have here (okay, we have… jarred too). That looks seriously good. I love artichoke dip from the restaurant, I’ve always wanted to make my own. The one I love is cut with spinach, though. I am not sure if they use mayo– it’s possible they use a little olive oil and puree some of the mix. Would be interesting with a thickened olive oil-lemon-egg yolk sauce in the place of mayo, too :)
January 24th, 2008 at 2:00 am
I love artichoke dip, except for all the mayo. It tastes great, but I’m trying to eat healthier these days. Regardless, your artichoke dip pasta creation looks delicious! It reminds me of a comforting casserole.
January 24th, 2008 at 8:42 am
This may be a good way for me to use that can of artichokes I have sitting around. Thanks for sharing!
January 24th, 2008 at 9:20 am
You can never have too much garlic in my opinion!! This sounds great!
January 24th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Looks brilliant! I love it when you include pictures of you actually adding the ingredients as you cook; that’s got to be difficult to capture, but you do it well! I’ll definitely try out this recipe on my artichoke-averse husband. I think it would win him over. :)
January 24th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Heck yeah! I am all over this. I think you picked my dinner tomorrow night.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Jen – we eat roasted chicken as well as pasta at least once every week and Pierre never tires of either one. I think he’s going to go crazy for this dish as it combines his two life loves – roasted chicken and pasta + delicious artichokes! I love the photo of the artichoke hearts – they look so beautiful, I could eat those out of hand.
January 24th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I love how you *only* managed canned artichokes since you’d spent the day off skiing. I think if I’d been skiing (please note, I’ve never even tried it), I’d have the night spent on the sofa eating take out Indian food or some such. The pasta does look very, very more-ish.
January 24th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Oh, yum, yum, yum. This is going onto my menu for next week!
January 24th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
OH WOW. That looks AMAZINGLY delicious!! I can’t wait to try it out. Thanks for posting the recipe!
January 25th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Never roasted chicken has looked so sexy! Great way to use all the flavors of my favorite dip, love it!
January 25th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Love all the garlic!
January 26th, 2008 at 6:05 am
One day, I’ll find, and be able to afford Artichokes – Then I’ll be as great as you are, lol. (Maybe.)
January 26th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Artichoke dip has been a Christmas favorite in my family for years and years, we have perfected it and even printed it in our family cookbook. This recipe will be a fabulous add to the second edition that I’m working on currently. Thanks so much for the inspiration.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Droolworthy!
January 27th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Yum! I’ve always been a sucker for warm pasta salads and warm potato salads, especially if they involve mayonnaise. Maybe it’s the slight verboten-ness…or maybe it’s the yumminess.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
soooooo Good. Just made it.
Wonderful!
January 29th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Mmm this looks good! I loooove artichoke hearts!
January 30th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Manggy – I’ll bet you could add chopped spinach to this too? Mmm, the olive oil-lemon-egg yolk sounds MUCH better than mayo!
Chuck – yeah, the mayo freaks me out too :) hee hee. thanks!
Chelsea – you too? I have random cans of stuff lying around all the time!
Deborah – yay garlic!
K – ha ha, it’s called “using a tripod” since I don’t have an “assistant” :)
Peabody – I’m flattered, lady. You’re always inspiring ME.
Christine – isn’t food great? I love that we cooks can whip up all sorts of terrific stuff from the “ordinary”. Woe to the non-cook ;)
Annemarie – ha ha, you give me way too much credit there! I was wiped out, but luckily had all of the components ready to go!
Lynn – great :)
Steph – you’re so welcome!
Tartelette – thanks, sweetie.
Pam – so many garlic lovers, you know the world can’t be all bad.
Graeme – I dare say you ARE as great as I am ;) With or without artichokes, you’re wonderful.
Nikki – wow, that’s so cool! Thanks for the compliment!
Michelle – thanks!
Jen – I have a love-hate relationship with warm salads that have mayo :) I am attracted and mortified at the same time!
Seth – You rock!
Amy – Jeremy loved it. Unfortunately, the day after I made it I started chemo and the artichokes smelled awful to me… Bummer!
January 30th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Lokks great! I am a fan of artichokes with Chicken. I have a similar dish with a white wine sauce.
Thanks,
Sharona May
February 4th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Sharona – White wine sauce? Oh that sounds LOVELY :)
February 18th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Love this dish – will definitely be putting it on our to cook list for the next week! As well, your site and photos are very touching. Thank you for sharing!
February 20th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Denise – thanks and I hope you like the dish!
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
That looks so good im going to try it soon
February 25th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Taylor – good luck with it, I hope it works out! :)
September 14th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
[…] Roast Chicken Artichoke Pasta […]
July 13th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
This seems like a great dish! I’m excited to give it a try tonight! Props to the tele babes! I bet this was a great dish to come back to after shredding the pow, and earning your turns! (Shoutout from a climbing guide, and a Leadville, CO resident)