I have had this dish several times and although it became very popular for a while I still love it. Using your pressure cooker just helps pull the whole thing together more quickly. A perfect one-pot meal! You may keep it vegetarian by omitting the chicken.
Ingredients
1 medium onion, finely diced
2-3 garlic, minced
2 tsp Montreal chicken seasoning or similar mixture
pinch red pepper flakes
1 lb chicken tenders, sliced
1 tbsp butter
25 -28 oz tomato sauce or tomato purée
1 tbsp sugar (optional)
3 tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp vodka
1 1/4 cups water
tt basil, dried
tt Italian seasoning
1 chicken bouillon cube or 1 tsp powder
tt salt and pepper
16 oz fusilli or penne pasta
1/2 cup heavy cream
fresh basil
Parmesan, grated
Instructions
1. Set electric pressure cooker to medium saute; once hot add a swirl of oil. Add onions, garlic, seasoning, and red pepper flakes. Let soften. Now add a bit of butter then add chicken. Let cook enough just to get a little browned.
2. Now add tomato sauce, tomato paste, vodka, water, dried seasonings, chicken bouillon powder, salt and pepper. Add fusilli pasta, ensuring that the pasta is completely covered in liquid.
3. Set pressure on high for exactly (half the time less 2 minutes) the pasta package says. This means if the package says 10 minutes for preparing the pasta. You would do 3 minutes.
4. Once the timer goes off immediately and carefully release the pressure. Let the mixture cool by turning off and add heavy cream along with fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper. and Parmesan then serve immediately.
Susie's Tips and Tricks
You may notice most recipes use shallots. I love 'em but they are far too expensive for a pasta dish in my estimation.
Make sure the pasta is completely covered by liquid. Note the cook time. 50% and 1 minute less.
Caution: chicken breasts cook extremely fast in a pressure cooker; with so little fat they can become very dry and cottony. Trust me.
Why is the cream added after? Cream will curdle under high heat. Alternatively you could use half & half.
Cooking the pasta and the sauce all together infuses the flavour.
If you'd like you could add a few rashers/strips of bacon or pancetta while sauteing the onions. Remove to keep the crispness then return before serving.
Serve on gnocchi if desired.
When you add Parmesan to a dish be aware that it is a salty dish; thus you may want to us less table salt.
Try with shrimp; 0 minutes on low pressure.
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