Terri’s Chicken Ziti and Broccoli

Well, friends, I’ve decided to make up for my week absence with a down home recipe directly from my mom’s (Terri!) kitchen. This is a real winner – simple and addicting. You’re in for a treat.

For some reason, despite the heat and my being so busy, I got an insatiable appetite for this dish this past week. I haven’t made it in years. It’s one of those recipes that takes me back to childhood. Being the starving artist I’m always fiddling with recipes to enhance them, so I make it a bit different than my mom did. Namely, I use chicken thighs instead of breast – less money and more flavor. I season my chicken with poultry seasoning to add depth of flavor. Also, mom would saute her broccoli in the pan she cooked the chicken in. I like the idea, but the broccoli would never get quite as cooked as I wanted it to. So I just throw it in with the pasta for the last few minutes of cooking to get it nice and blanched, then toss everything together at the end. Really I’m just streamlining the whole process while retaining all the flavor and simplicity.

Hope you approve, ma!

Happy Friday everybody!

Terri’s Chicken, Ziti, and Broccoli (Recipe PDF)