Speedy Ziti with Zesty Chicken

This is the kind of pasta dinner that exists for the 6pm scramble. Boil pasta, make a quick Dijon-lemon pan sauce while the noodles cook, toss with cooked chicken and peas, and dinner’s on the table in 35 minutes. No long simmering, no preheating an oven, no special ingredients.

The sauce is a quick stovetop trick. Sauteed onion gets thickened with Dijon mustard and flour to form a savory roux base. Whisking the chicken broth in gradually is what keeps it lump-free. Dump the broth in all at once and you’ll spend ten minutes whisking out the lumps you just created.

The quarter-cup of lemon juice is what makes this dish actually zesty rather than bland. The acid lifts the cream-less sauce and pairs with the Dijon’s bite for a bright, restaurant-style flavor. Don’t reduce the lemon. The acid is what’s saving this from feeling diet.

Using pre-cooked rotisserie chicken is the obvious shortcut here. The recipe is built around it. Cooking raw chicken from scratch defeats the speedy promise.

Pro Tips

• Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining. A splash thickens the sauce and helps it cling to the ziti.
• Defrost peas in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes while the pasta cooks. Drain well before adding so they don’t water down the sauce.
• Add a generous handful of grated parmesan at serving time. The recipe doesn’t call for it but the dish loves it.
• Use whatever short pasta is in your pantry. Penne, rigatoni, fusilli, all interchangeable.

Variations

• Stir in 2 cups of baby spinach at the end for greens. The hot sauce wilts them in seconds.
• Add 4 strips of crumbled crisp bacon for smoky depth.
• Swap chicken for canned tuna or cooked shrimp for a seafood twist.