Pasta with Grilled Chicken, Tomatoes and Pine Nuts

Chicken
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1⁄2 cup salt – I use sea salt…table salt is ‘saltier’ so you may need to use less
1⁄2 cup sugar
olive oil
pepper

1. Prepare a brine by dissolving the salt and sugar in 1 1⁄2 quarts of water or so. I use a gallon sized zip-lock bag.
2. Lay each chicken breast half between sheets of plastic wrap and pound them to half-inch thickness.
3. Put the chicken in the brine mixture, close the bag and put it into a bowl. Let the chicken brine in the refrigerator 45 min to an hour.
4. Prepare a grill. Drain the chicken and coat liberally with olive oil.
5. Grill the chicken until cooked through…approximately 3 – 4 minutes per side.
6. Take off the grill, season with pepper and let rest a few minutes before slicing.

Pasta

1 lb. pasta – I use pennoni which is a longer rigatoni shape, but any shape is fine
1 pint fresh cherry tomatoes
1 large bunch of fresh basil, roughly chopped
1⁄4 cup pine nuts, toasted
olive oil
butter
salt
pepper
parmigiano – I prefer shredded to grated

1. Heat pasta water and season with salt.
2. Slice tomatoes in half, sprinkle lightly with salt, and place in colander over a bowl. Leave for one half hour or so. This will draw some of the liquid out of the tomatoes.
3. Cook the pasta until al dente. Reserve a half cup cooking water, then drain.
4. Return the pasta, half cup cooking water, 2 tablespoons butter and several glugs of olive oil to pot and toss.
5. Slice chicken into quarter inch strips and add to pasta
6. Drain and add tomatoes to pasta
7. Just before serving, toss in basil, pine nuts and shredded parmigiano
8. Season with pepper – you shouldn’t need added salt at this point.

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