Chicken Rigatoni Pasta with A French Creme Sauce

Bon Appetit / Epicurious contacted me and wanted to know if I would take the ALDI’s challenge. The challenge was to make a dinner for four people for $10.00. Oh, my I smarted back you can’t make dinner for ten dollars. She said their chef had completed the challenge and was in the latest issue of the magazine.  I ran and found the issue she was talking about found her article, well she made chicken wrapped in prosciutto with cauliflower. Hummmm I thought to myself you can’t make that dinner for $10 there is no way. I have to be honest I have never shopped at ALDI’s. I went to ALDI’s looked around the store to see what I had gotten myself into and was surprised their prices. Then went back the following week to purchase my $10.00 dinner items. Well, I was able to exceed their challenge and I will say it turned out great and I had enough items left for dinner the following night. Wow….Score!!

Chicken Rigatoni Pasta with A French Creme Sauce

2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 package thin sliced chicken breast – I used half of the package
1 package pasta ~ I use Rigatoni
1 – 16 oz container of heavy whipping cream
6 tablespoons buttermilk
3 teaspoons grain french mustard
Fresh ground pepper
salt
pinch lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
dash of hot sauce
dash of chives

I did not find Creme Fresh at the ALDI’s no problem.  I made my own which is less expensive. The way you make it at home is soOoo easy take the whipping cream and add three tablespoons of buttermilk for each cup of cream. I had 2 cups of cream so 6 total tablespoons buttermilk. Mix this together and let it sit on your counter for 24 hours or longer and you will have made your very own creme fresh/creme franiche. This stuff is amazing, great to cook with it does not break the way cream will. Try it and you will love it. We use it in everything at our house.

I sliced the chicken even thiner, then pounded the chicken out nice and thin. I only used half the package of chicken for this dish, use the remainder for dinner the following day. Salt and pepper the chicken on both sides. Place the oil and butter in the pan, once pan was hot add the chicken browning on both sides. Once chicken is cooked, removed and place aside for later. Add the homemade creme fresh, to the pan the chicken was cooked in stir mixing in all the wonderful brown bits from the chicken. Cooking on a low heat once this heats thru add the mustard, lemon zest, lemon juice, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Cook the sauce until it begins to get thick, add cooked pasta and stir to coat, adding a little of the pasta water if needed. Place pasta on serving dish and top with sliced chicken. You could top with the left over cheese or chives or capers, so many choices.

Salad
arugula
lemon zest
juice of one lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/4 cup of shredded cheese

Wash arugula, dry then toss in oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Plate salad, top with cheese and serve.

I was to only spend $10.00 well, lets be honest, I did not think it could be done. I was so wrong. I spent $12 total and I had half of the arugula left, half the chicken left and more than 3/4 of the cheese left. So doing the math I came in around $8.00 that is amazing… blows me away! I used the chicken and arugula made a great salad the following night. I have included a picture of the remaining items to prove I had additional meal left over.
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Smiles….
Angie

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