Sweet & Spicy Chicken Pasta

This recipe is something that I came up with on the fly, with just ingredients I had available at the house.  I had chicken I needed to cook up and eat and I wanted something that would be filling but light.  Following is the result, a sweet tender chicken and pasta that has a bit of a spicy kick in the back of the throat that uses no sugars.  The sweetness comes from the fruit and juice used!


Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 oz uncooked pasta, any variety
2 c fresh spinach
1 1/2 c white wine
2 c orange juice
1 c white seedless grapes, halved
1/2 tsp hot pepper mix (http://whatscookinatshaes.blogspot.com/2011/06/shaes-hot-pepper-mix.html)
1 TBS chopped basil
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp store bought cajun seasoning mix
olive or canola oil
corn starch

Directions:
Pour about 2 TBS oil into a large skillet and get it started heating.  Cut the chicken in to bite sized pieces and sprinkle with the cajun seasoning.  Drop it in to the hot skillet and get it browned well on all sides.  When chicken is finished browning, use the white wine to deglaze the skillet.  Reduce the heat.  Pour in the orange juice, basil, garlic, and the hot pepper mix. Drop in the halved grapes.  Stir it until it's well mixed and let it simmer at just under a boil to reduce the sauce and finish cooking the chicken.  It can simmer and reduce for about an hour or so.  Give it a taste and decide if it is too orangey- if so, add a little more white wine.  If it isn't citrus-y enough add a little more juice.  When it starts getting time to eat, get the pasta cooked and drained, set it aside.  Using a small skillet, add in just a touch of oil or butter as well as the raw spinach.  Let it blanch down the spinach before using some tongs to take the spinach to the sauce skillet.  Just blend the spinach in!  To thicken your sauce, put the cornstarch in a dry cup and add just enough cold water to get it easily stirred.  Bring your sauce to a nice little bubbling and pour the cornstarch and water in while stirring.  Serve over noodles!

Notes on this recipe and some of the techniques:
Deglazing-  when you brown any kind of meat, you get all those little bits of meat and flavor stuck to the bottom of the pan.  When you have a hot skillet and you pour a cool liquid in to it, it removes all those little gems of flavor and that liquid then becomes the base for a sauce.

Reducing-  this one is simple.  Any time you have an amount of liquid that you want to keep or intensify the flavor, you simply let it simmer and a part of the volume of liquid evaporates!  Be careful not to burn these things, and you can always add more water or broth if the flavors become too intense!

Using cornstarch to thicken sauces and soups-  When using cornstarch and water to thicken something, be sure you add water to the cornstarch in a small cup.  Always add cold water.  When adding this mixture, make sure you are stirring what ever you are adding it to as you are pouring it in.  If you don't stir while pouring, you have a lot of clumps.  A little goes a long way!  If you notice that your gravy is getting thick enough, don't add anymore!  Gravies thickened with cornstarch tend not to reheat well.  They end up being clumpy and gelatinous. Soups seem to do better, but the gravy does not reheat well when thickened with cornstarch.

Good luck and I hope you've enjoyed this recipe!