It’s Secret Recipe Club time again! Where is 2013 going?! I love doing the Secret Recipe club, but every month when I post, it really gives me a stark reminder that another month has flown by. Jeeeeeez, time needs to slow the heck down!
This month I was assigned Julie’s blog “White Lights on Wednesday”. I went straight to the “About” page and sat there laughing as I realised I do so many things the same as Julie!
You are so not alone girl! I am obsessed with raw dough and batter as well, it’s any wonder I make anything half the time as I sit there eating it. All my documents are completely organised into folders and sub folders – no looking around for a picture for ages on my PC! And bread!? My absolute FAVE – If I am asked to cut bread I have to say to my other half “my slices or yours?” because my slice is about 3 inches thick…
After having a good look through loads of recipes including: Mocha Cupcake Milkshake, Biscuits and Gravy (one of my favourite things in the WHOLE world) and Chicken Cordon Bleu, I finally decided to make Julie’s Cajun Ranch Chicken Pasta.
This was absolutely delicious! I toned down the spices a bit for me as I’m a complete wuss, but my other half had his with all the spice and we loved it! The chicken was lovely and tender and packed full of flavour and there was just enough cheese in the sauce to really add to the overall flavour. Ohhhhhhhhh I’m craving this again as I’m writing this post!
You may be put off by the long list of ingredients, but trust me most of the ingredients are just put straight into a bowl and mixed into a glorious marinade for the chicken. Then you just place the chicken in a ziploc bag, place it in the fridge for a couple of hours and you’re ready to go!
Make this today! Seriously it’s amazing and you need it in your life!
Secret Recipe Club – Cajun Ranch Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- Ingredients for the marinade:
- 1 chicken breast, sliced in half as if you were butter-flying it, but cut it fully
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup ranch dressing
- 1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, I used a pinch on mine - I'm a wuss!!
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp white vinegar
- 1/2 tbsp white sugar
- Ingredients for the pasta:
- 1/2 lb pasta
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup single cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Parsley to garnish, optional
Instructions
- Place the oil, ranch dressing, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper (you can add more later if needed), vinegar, lemon juice and sugar into a small bowl and which together until smooth.
- Ensure the seasoning is correct and if not, add a little more salt/pepper,
- Place your chicken breast thins into a large ziploc bag and pour the marinade into the bag. Give it a little squidge around to ensure the chicken is covered and pop it into the fridge for 2 hours.
- Once the chicken has been left to marinade, place a large saucepan of salted water on to boil and cook the pasta to packet instructions.
- Whilst the pasta is cooking, warm up your skillet on a low-med heat. Place the chicken halves in the skillet and cook for around 8-10 minutes, or until cooked through and browned.
- Whilst the chicken is cooking, place the butter into a medium sized saucepan on a medium heat and melt. Add in the minced garlic and spices and whisk until combined.
- Add in the cream and milk and whisk until well combined. Add in the grated cheese and continue to whisk until smooth and thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Drain the cooked pasta and place it back into your large saucepan. Pour over the sauce and toss together until the pasta is coated. Serve immediately in bowls with a chicken half each and some parsley to garnish, if desired.
Recipe Notes
Recipe adapted from White Lights on Wednesday - http://www.whitelightsonwednesday.com/2013/01/cajun-ranch-chicken-pasta/ * This recipe is easily doubled to serve 4.
I link up at these great Link Parties!
Annie is a self-taught baker, recipe developer and food photographer. When not in the kitchen, she can be found with her head in a book or jotting down recipe ideas! 
Let's see – love anything Cajun, love chicken, love pasta. Great SRC pick!
Oh Annie. We could totally be besties. I promise to share my pie crust dough with you if you'll cut the bread. 🙂 I'm so glad you liked the pasta. It's one of my faves that I just don't make often enough.
And I totally do the post-it note thing with my cookbooks too.
Hello Annie 🙂 What a fabulous choice for SRC! We did love those muffins. Everyone at the party yesterday kept commenting on the fact that they weren't too sweet – which is what I really liked about them. You have a fabulous blog 🙂 Kate
Visiting from Melt in Your Mouth Monday…this looks SO GOOD! I pinned so I can make it for my cajun food loving family. 🙂
This pasta dish looks incredible. I could really go for some of that today!
Yum – this looks incredible! So creamy and delicious. 🙂
Awesome recipe that I know my family will love. So glad you shared
There is something so magical about Ranch flavors: I will definitely be trying this sometime for dinner!
heck yes i do! (need it for my life, that is)… what beautiful photography you have!!
Happy SRC reveal from a fellow group C member!
Pretty picture – looks like a terrific dinner recipe!
This pasta looks, and sounds, amazing! I'm going to pin it now so I remember to make it for dinner soon!
This looks awesome!!! We would love it if you would link up at our linky party:
http://www.lifewiththecrustcutoff.com/two-girls-and-a-party-linky-party-21/
Live every Wednesday to Sunday.
Hosted by:
http://www.lifewiththecrustcutoff.com/ Parrish @ Life with the Crust Cut Off
http://thissillygirlslife.com/ Dana @ This Silly Girl's Life
We hope to see you there!
This looks like a good dish to add to the repertoire. Pasta, chicken, cajun – winner.
Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday. Hope you are having a great weekend and come back soon!
Miz Helen
YUM! I love chicken 😉 Saw this at Cheerios and Lattes and had to stop over:)
Hope you can link this and others up to Super Sunday at Who Needs a Cape! http://whoneedsacape.com/2013/06/super-sunday-party-3/
I know her blog… great food. You picked a terrific recipe to share with us on foodie friday thanks.
You had me at pasta and Cajun…I'm sold! YUM!
Oh wow this looks fantastic! I'm always on the lookout for new ways to cook with chicken. Thanks for linking up with What's Cookin' Wednesday!
Fabulous site, Annie! Your chicken sounds delicious…the more spices the more flavorful! Great pictures as well.
Found your site through the Foodie Friday Linkup!
xo,
Tammy (& Catherine) of Living the Gourmet
This is my first time trying cajun embarrassingly! Haha, but I'm a convert now 🙂
Haha I'm glad I'm not the only one!! I get told off for the amount of post it notes I buy! Sounds like a deal lol, can't beat thick slices of bread. And we absolutely loved this dish – thank you so much for sharing it 🙂
Thank you so much and so glad you liked them 🙂
Thank you!
Thanks so much 🙂
Thank you!
Thank you 🙂
I completely agree, I hadn't tried ranch until recently and I love it so much now!
Thank you so much! 😀
Thank you!
Thank you 🙂
Definitely a winner! Hope you love it if you try it, I'll certainly be making it again soon!
Thank you!
Thanks so much! 😀
This looks absolutely amazing! I've never tried cayenne pepper in my pasta before.
Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friday
This chicken looks delicious. Thanks so much for sharing with Adorned From Above's Blog Hop. The party will be back this week starting Tuesday and 8:00PM mountain time. We can't wait to see what you have to share this week.
Have a great week.
Debi and Charly
http://www.adornedfromabove.com
Annie, thanks for this recipe!
I loved the chicken, though I think the marinade made enough for more than 1 chicken breast. In fact, the marinade was so good, next time I will be cutting the chicken into small pieces so it gets maximum contact with the chicken.