Pistou Pasta with Chicken and Zucchini

If you aren't a fan of garlic this isn't really for you. Pistou is the French answer to pesto but with less calories. It's merely olive oil, basil and garlic. Delicious! I of course intensified the garlic, and it's only lightly cooked before being served so there you go.

Pistou Pasta with Chicken and Zucchini
serves 2


-Pasta (plus salt and olive oil for the pot)
-1 tbsp olive oil
-20 leaves basil
-1 heaping tbsp minced garlic
-2 Chicken breasts
-2 zucchini (or 1 zucchini and 1 yellow squash), sliced lengthwise and cut into pieces
-1 oz shredded Parmesan, plus more for garnish

I forgot to put the olive oil and Parmesan in this picture, I hang my head in shame:

Get your water boiling and add your pasta. No need to start the other stuff beforehand, because this dinner truly doesn't take long (especially if you have pre-minced garlic). Once the pasta's in, add some salt and olive oil. Interesting fact, the olive oil doesn't keep the pasta from sticking to itself BUT it keeps the water from boiling over, due to it forming a film on top of the water. Interesting, non?

Pistou
-1 tbsp olive oil
-20 basil leaves, finely chopped
-1 tbsp minced garlic

Easy breezy!

Heat 1/2 tbsp in a skillet on medium high.

Look, my beloved tongs! Hi, tongs!! When the chicken is browned, add your zucchini and squash:

I like them to hang out together, share their flavors, get acquainted before becoming my dinner, and then lower the heat a bit and remove the chicken to slice it up:

Deliiiiicious! Your pasta should be done by now but be sure to preserve some starchy water before completely draining it. I just put my measuring cup under the sieve and got this rich looking stuff:

Look at that! Completely opaque and you can see the olive oil, still mellowing out on top. Anyways, now, add your pasta to the skillet, the pistou,  a splash of the concoction above and the 1oz shredded Parmesan:

Toss continuously until everything is well coated with the pistou, and you can smell the garlic begin to cook. If you want to mellow the flavor, keep cooking until it turns golden. Once the Parmesan is basically melted up, throw this stuff in bowls:

All that's left is adding some more Parmesan and digging in like a no limit street soldier.