Garlic Chicken and Broccoli Pasta

I like garlic. I use it in a lot of my cooking. So I decided to make something garlic-y for dinner. This meal will be pretty garlic-y, so if you're not a fan of garlic, well...this may not be your bag. But it's so yummy. And it's super easy. This would be a great weeknight dinner when you don't have a ton of time. And it would be supper easy to make a ton of it for a big family or a group. I only made enough for the two of us (or so I thought), so I used about half a box of pasta, and only made enough sauce for that. I'm giving you a doubled recipe of what I made, so it would easily feed 4 people, I think. We actually had a whole serving left over after eating probably a little more than we should have. Haha.

And, it has broccoli in it, which means it's good for you, right? Hehe. Ok, so the cream and butter might offset that a little bit, but, meh. You know me. I love me some butter and cream. At least I'm throwing in some green veggies and protein to go with it. Yum. So good. And here we go.

Ingredients:
-1 lb pasta, a.k.a. a whole box (I used rotini, but anything would work, really)
-2 chicken breasts, cubed
-1 head of broccoli, cut into smallish florets (you could use more if you wanted more veggies)
-at least 5 cloves of garlic, minced very finely (I told you it would be garlic-y, I actually used a little more than that)
-olive oil (about 4 tablespoons, enough to cook the chicken in, then sautee the broccoli and garlic-I used 2 tablespoons for the chicken, then added 2 more for the broccoli and garlic)
-4 tablespoons butter
-4 tablespoons flour
-2.5 cups chicken broth
-1 cup cream
-salt and pepper to taste
-parmesan and mozzarella cheese, for garnish

Directions:
In a large pot, boil the pasta until tender. Drain and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add half your olive oil to the skillet and let it heat up, then add your cubed chicken. Cook until it's almost cooked through.

Add a little bit more olive oil if needed, reduce the heat slightly, then saute the broccoli with the garlic until the broccoli is slightly tender and the garlic is golden.

The garlic needs to be finely minced. How finely? As finely as you can possibly get it. Mine looked like this:

Stir it frequently so the garlic doesn't burn. That would be bad...very bad. Ick. Burned garlic= bitter nastiness.

When the broccoli and garlic are done sauteing, move everything over to the side of the pan. Melt your butter in the empty side, then whisk in the flour to make a roux.

Combine the roux with everything else in the skillet. Add one cup of the chicken broth and stir to combine it well with the roux. The sauce will start to thicken slightly. Add the second-and-a-half cup of chicken broth and stir to combine well.

Let the sauce thicken slightly, stirring occasionally. When the sauce is thickened and you're almost ready to serve, add the cup of cream and stir to combine.

Let it get heated up into the sauce. When the sauce is hot and well combined, pour the drained pasta into the sauce and coat well.

Serve hot and enjoy the yumminess!

Mmmm. So good.