Super easy Sunday dinner for you today! Which is unusual for me because I tend to make Sunday dinners *the* meal of the week. Which means I usually spend a little more time on them and they need to somehow fit into my definition of a Sunday dinner… which I can’t even verbalize. It’s just a known sense of what constitutes a Sunday dinner.
And it’s funny, because the other week I was feeling lazy and suggested something stupid simple for Sunday dinner to my husband, and he responded “that’s not a Sunday dinner!” I’ve officially converted my husband 😆.
But, Sunday dinners were such a *thing* for me growing up. For a long time, my entire family would go to my grandma’s house after every Sunday church to enjoy a roast dinner, which she’d obviously have started early that morning to ensure it was done by early afternoon! Even at my mom’s house where church was an on and off thing, Sunday dinner was still the culmination of the week’s meals and represented the highlight of dinners for the week.
I don’t think it’s just a midwestern thing either. I know here in New Jersey, Sunday “gravy” (spaghetti sauce) is a big thing in the Italian community. And so, having lived in many places and experienced many cultures, Sunday dinner has grown to incorporate many different things for me. I am still all about the classic farm Sunday dinner ~ midwesteners know what I’m talking about when I say that. Many of our grandparents, or great-grandparents, were farmers. Heck, some of our parents were farmers!
Not my parents, but my paternal grandparents did grow up on farms, and that style of cooking permeated through all of my grandma’s cooking. So a classic farm Sunday dinner is a roast of some sort. For us, often a roast beef or a ham. I actually don’t recall ever having a roast chicken. Not sure why… perhaps not enough meat to serve our big family? And then the roast was paired with mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, sometimes frozen green beans with Velveeta cheese, a jello mold, and my grandma’s homemade sweet pickles! Oh! And always dinner rolls!
But, since those long ago days, Sunday dinner has grown to include many other dishes. Often times those are pasta based dishes that slow cook for a couple of hours… which makes this dish somewhat unique to what I normally make for a Sunday dinner! (Check out here to see what some of my Sunday dinners look like). So, sticking with my Sunday style fare of pasta, but besides that, this is a super easy meal to make that it easily can be made any day of the week! I just opted to make it for Sunday dinner!
Using rotisserie chicken is the first thing that saves a ton of time! Really, it saves the majority of time!I love using rotisserie chicken. It is super flavorful and tender, and you can’t beat how easy and convenient it is. You can pull the meat off while it’s still hot or let it cool and reheat it per the directions below. (NOTE: feel free to pull the meat off, place in a freezer bag, and freeze until ready to use! Or place in Tupperware and leave in the refrigerator for a couple of days ~ great meal prep tip!) The rest of the meal is super easy to make now that you have the chicken taken care of!
I love using pancetta or prosciutto cut into cubes and quickly fried up to golden, tender little pieces. I have my deli slice pancetta or prosciutto to about half an inch thick and then cut those pieces into little cubes before frying it up quickly. Super easy!
I normally make roast cauliflower for dinner, but I decided I wanted some color to my dish. I instead opted for roast broccoli. I tossed it with a small amount of olive oil and a sprinkling of garlic salt. I didn’t want to drown out the flavor of the broccoli! While the broccoli roasts, the pasta cooks. And the rest is easiest part.
If you’ve never browned butter, it’s pretty hard to screw up. You start by melting butter. Once it melts, stir it often, if not constantly. It’ll start to froth up, to the point that it’s difficult to see the color below the froth. Keep stirring and as the froth reduces, keep a close eye on the butter. You’ll notice little brown flakes start to form and fall to the bottom of the butter. Keep stirring until most of the butter has turned brown and filled up with all those little flakes. Then, remove it from the heat. It’s that easy!
Lastly, throw the ricotta, herbs, and lemon zest in a food processor and blend until the herbs are finely minced! That’s it! So, whether you decide to make this for Sunday dinner or as an easy weeknight meal, it’s hard to go wrong with this flavorful browned butter pappardelle dinner!
Enjoy!
Browned Butter Pappardelle Chicken with Pancetta & Roast Broccoli on Herbed Whipped Ricotta
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Pasta
- Cuisine: Dinner
Ingredients
16 oz pappardelle
1 rotisserie chicken, skin removed; meat removed & broken into bite sized pieces
8 oz pancetta, cut into ½” cubes
4 TBs butter, cut into rough cubes
1 lemon, zested
Roast Broccoli
12 oz fresh broccoli florets
1 TB olive oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
garlic salt
Herbed Ricotta
1 cup ricotta
2 TBs oregano
½ cup basil
1 lemon, zested
pinch of red pepper flakes
To Serve
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spread the broccoli out on a sheet pan. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, red pepper flakes, and a few shakes of garlic salt. Bake for about 20 minutes, flipping halfway.
Cook the pappardelle according to the box. When done, drain and rinse until mostly cooled to stop it from continuing to cook. Place the pappardelle in a large bowl.
In a food processor, add the ricotta, oregano, basil, lemon zest, and red pepper flake. Process until smooth.
When the broccoli is almost done cooking, heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring often, until golden brown ~ about 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and let rest on paper towels to absorb excess grease. Add the chicken and cook until heated through. Remove and place in a bowl. Wipe the pan clean.
Return the pan to medium heat and add the butter. As the butter melts, stir often until it froths and forms brown flakes. Remove from the heat once it is mostly browned. Drizzle the browned butter over the pappardelle, add the lemon zest, and toss to thoroughly coat. Add the pancetta, chicken, and broccoli to the bowl and toss to thoroughly combine.
Smear a large dollop of ricotta on the bottom of your serving bowls. Divide the pasta evenly. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan. Enjoy!
Keywords: pasta with browned butter, pasta with roast broccoli, whipped ricotta, whipped herb ricotta, pancetta pasta, rotisserie chicken pasta, easy pasta recipes
