Penne with chicken and spinach

This was a hit last night.  I was intending to make a carbonara but we didn't have any bacon or eggs and I had some leftover cooked spinach I wanted to use up.  My friend Mel gave me a new tip - peel a zucchini and finely grate it and add it in with the onions.  The girls never notice or taste it and I feel better about adding some extra vegetables to their meal.  I used cream today because I had no eggs but you could probably make a white sauce using butter and flour if you wanted to avoid the cream.  I wiped up some yummy garlic bread by defrosting a leftover bread roll from my freezer, made a quick garlic butter and had that in the oven while I prepared and cooked this, we were eating within 20 mins easily and we all had a relaxed and enjoyable mealtime.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, diced
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic
1 zucchini, peeled and finely grated
1/2 cup cooked spinach, chopped
1 cup portobella mushrooms, sliced
knob of butter
olive oil
sea salt and pepper
1/3 cup cream
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
400g penne pasta

Method:

• Boil pasta in salted water until al dente
• Drain and rinse in cold water
• Saute/steam spinach in a hot skillet with a lid on, in a drop of water until wilted. When cooked, drain and chop in a mini processor to a fine chop.
• Saute onions, add garlic and then grated zucchini
• Move to one side of the pan and add butter and mushrooms. Stir frequently and season well with salt and pepper. Saute until mushrooms are well browned.
• Add chicken pieces and cook through.
• Add cooked pasta, cooked spinach, cream and parmesan and stir until well combined and heated through
• Taste and adjust seasoning.
• Serve with garlic bread, a side salad and a sprinkle of additional parmesan cheese.