Chipotle Shrimp & Chicken Tuscan Pasta Toss

I have been on this HUGE love fest with Manwaring Smoked Chipotle Cheese that they had sent to me.  Seriously, people, you NEED to order this stuff!  It changed my life and view on spicy cheeses.  This is just so good that you literally crave it.

When I made the Smolderin’ Chipotle Cluckin-A Ciabatta with this cheese, I KNEW I had to make it into just more than a sammich.  I needed a “real” dinner-type schtick.

This was so good that seriously I ate 2 servings of it because it was THAT good.  Now for those that know me, they know I can barely finish what I have on my plate normally but to not only finish my plate BUT go back for seconds is rare!  Could have been I just ran 5 miles prior and did weight training for the extra appetite but whatever it was, this food was so amazing, and honestly, it’s because of the cheese!

This is packed with protein and veggies and what I love most about it is that it’s easily adaptable to your veggie/pasta/quinoa liking.  Let me tell you what folks.. THIS on top of quinoa is OUT OF THIS WORLD good!  I just happened to make pasta for this as I had to make the obligatory plate of pasta for Mr. Fantabulous and didn’t feel like dirtying another pot for the quinoa.

I mean just look how creamy and decadent it is! I had to force myself away from the table to stop eating this!

Now while it does call for Heavy Cream you can easily “Healthify” it with fat-free Half & Half and it tastes amazing.  The thing with Heavy Cream is that it adds such an undeniable richness that you just can’t get with other ingredients.

So now let me tell you about my story when I made this for “ME” for dinner. Remember how I said I was making Mr. Fantabulous is an obligatory pasta dish with the Italian Gravy?  Well as he’s inhaling his food, I sit down with my plate of this and then it begins…  THE LOOK.. 

The LOOK of HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!  WTH man???  Yours is all pretty and mine isn’t!  Can I have a bite or can I just eat yours too cause if you loved me you’d let me have it.  Yes, I got all of that from just 1 look!  I know my husband quite well.  However I just looked back, smiled and dug my fork in.  Seriously I think my eyes rolled back in my head out of sheer delight by how good this was! 

Well then the noises started… the scraping of the fork against the now empty plate (his), the clanking of ice in his empty glass, MORE fork tapping sounds and finally a “Um is that good?”  to which I replied “OMG it’s amazing!”… and kept on eating.  Yeah I know, I’m horrible!

Well, about 15 seconds later I hear “Huh, sure looks good.”  “Uh-huh, it’s to die for baby” as I kept shoveling in.  LOL  Well, when the last bite rolled around I “pretended” to be full and kind of sat there waiting.  See by this time I’m the cruelest wife in the world because he’s waiting for me to offer it to him and trust me, folks, it was killing me not to but I just had to be a brat and mess with him. 

He keeps putting those damn peanuts in my purse, shoes, coat… So I slowly poke at my last bite, twirl it on my fork and stuff it in my mouth. Folks if you would have heard the GASP he let out I literally started to choke from laughing so hard.  I mean it took all I had not to die right there from choking on my food.  So I got up, fixed another small plate, and set it down between us. I then hear “Ohhh so NOOOOOOOOOOW you will share!  Hmph!  Well, maybe I don’t want any piggy!”   I just oinked and started in on my 2nd plate!  LOL  Then we started stabbing at each other’s forks and laughing.  He LOVED it, to say the least!

Chipotle Shrimp & Chicken Tuscan Pasta Toss

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• Author: The Kitchen Whisperer

Ingredients

• 2 cups Manwaring Smoked Chipotle Cheese, shredded plus additional for garnish
• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into 1/2” strips
• 2 cups fresh shrimp, deveined and thawed
• 3/4 of a large yellow onion, cut into small chunks
• 6 medium portabella mushrooms, sliced into 1/4” pieces
• 2 roasted red peppers, sliced into 1/4” strips
• 3 cups spinach
• 2 cups artichoke hearts
• 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup heavy cream (or can use fat free half & half)
• 2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 8 ounces Capellini

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Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add in the Capellini noodles. When the water begins to boil again, add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook until al dente, ~4-6 minutes. Drain but reserve 1 cup pasta water.
2. Place the strips of chicken on a plate and season with 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Gently combine and allow to rest for 15 minutes. 2 minutes before you’re ready to cook the chicken, place the oil and butter in a large stainless steel skillet and heat over medium-high. When the butter starts to bubble add in the onions.
3. Cook for 2 minutes and add in the sugar, stirring to incorporate. This will help cook the onion down and give it an amazing flavor. Cook until just soft (about 5 more minutes) and add in the mushrooms, remaining salt, pepper, and paprika. Stir the onions and mushrooms around until the mushrooms have released their juices, about 3-5 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and then mix with the onion and mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. At this point, the chicken is almost done.
4. Add in the shrimp and cook until pink and the chicken is done. Add in 2 cups of stock and cream turning the heat up to high.
5. While this is cooking, make a slurry by mixing the cornstarch and 1/2 cup stock. Pour this into the mixture and reduce the heat to medium; stirring and cooking for 2 minutes or until it starts to thicken. Add in the smoked chipotle cheese, roasted peppers, and artichoke hearts, stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute. If the mixture is too thick, add in more stock. If it’s too thin, add in some of the reserved pasta sauce. Add in the spinach and remove it from heat. Gently combine the spinach and allow it to wilt slightly. Adjust the seasonings to taste.
6. To serve, plate the pasta and spoon the pan mixture over top. Garnish with smoked chipotle cheese.

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