Spiced Chicken Pasta with Tomato Sauce

from Cooking Light

• 1 teaspoon ground fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound chicken breast tenders, cut into (1-inch) pieces
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups canned diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup white wine
• 8 ounces uncooked penne
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl; rub over chicken.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 4 minutes, turning once. Remove from heat; set aside.

Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds or until garlic is soft. Add tomatoes and wine, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Add chicken, and simmer 5 minutes.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain. Toss pasta with sauce in a large bowl. Sprinkle with cheese and basil.

Any small pasta will work in this quick, easy entree. Ground fennel and coriander bring a welcome complexity to the chicken and impart their flavor to the sauce.

The only changes I made were to use 1/2 tsp ground fennel seed.  That is difficult to find at the store.  I had to buy fennel seed and grind it up myself.  As a help-4 cups of canned diced tomatoes comes to about 3 14.5 oz cans of tomatoes.  Also, I used chicken breast meat instead of tenders.  Either way is fine just chop them to the size you want.  Or pound them a little first which is fun and makes the chicken breasts thinner!

I thought the taste was great, but the sauce was too thin.  Next time I may mash the tomatoes in the blender before adding to the pot to cook and hopefully that will help.  

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