pasta w/ basil, chicken & diced tomatoes

As the recent wave of warm weather has hit NYC this week, I've found myself less enthusiastic about standing in front of a hot stove for any amount of time. Therefore, I've been playing around with some ways to "cheat" pasta - make it easy to make and still good tasting in even less time that usual. I've had a few misses, which I won't share with you here for obvious reasons. However, I struck a good on last night that I'd like to share. Here's what you'll need:

• 1/3" fresh pasta (you can go with boxed, but for this both tastes WAY better and cooks in under 3 minutes)
• 1/2" chicken breast
• 1 small can diced tomatoes (I used Contadina with Roasted Garlic, low sodium. If you don't go low sodium, that can is more than 100% of your daily intake. Read the labels!)
• Bunch of basil leaves (maybe 10ish)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon EVOO
• Pepper to taste (again, with all that sodium, you don't need salt!)

Go ahead and start boiling your pasta. By the time you boil water and cook the pasta, the rest of this will be ready.

In a medium non-stick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and let brown. Slice the chicken into portion sized pieces and add to the skillet, add pepper. Move the chicken around every few minutes, making sure to cook through, about 5-7 minutes probably. Go ahead and chop up your basil and set aside.

Once the chicken is just done, add the can of diced tomatoes (liquid mostly drained). Cook this a couple minutes until heated, stirring occasionally.

By this time, the pasta should be done. Drain and add to the skillet, along with the chopped basil. Stir it all together and turn off heat. I like to let it all sit for a second while I clean up the other dishes. The pasta will absorb some of the tomato juices and all the flavors will blend nicely together. Toss in a bowl and serve.

Bon chappétit!