Artichoke Chicken Pasta

August. Marcus goes back to Morehouse. Isaiah enters 11th grade. Zoe enters 9th grade (HIGH SCHOOL — the baby of the family is in high school and time is a thief with good taste). The house recalibrates: four at the table plus Curtis. Five. Down from seven. The subtractions are not losses — they are launches — but the table notices. The table always notices. One fewer voice at dinner. One fewer plate. The math of a family that is growing by shrinking, expanding by sending its people into the world. The table gets smaller. The line gets longer. Both things are true.

Set the Table fall enrollment: forty girls across three locations (church, East Point community center, and a new site at a school in DeKalb County — the first of the five schools that requested the program). Forty girls. From six to forty in seven years. The table has multiplied seven times over. Diamond runs the church location. A new assistant, Keyana (the girl who made fried chicken at the summer intensive), runs the East Point location. I oversee all three. The program is becoming something that outlives my daily presence. The program is becoming an institution. Not a church program. An institution. With funding and locations and staff and a mission that started in a Folgers can and now lives in forty girls' hands.

Made a September Sunday dinner: the anchor. Fried chicken, greens, cornbread, mac and cheese. Four at the table plus Curtis. Smaller. Quieter. Still right. The food is the same whether the table seats four or forty. The recipe doesn't scale down. The love doesn't scale down. The table holds whoever is present and the food holds everyone who isn't and the line — God, the line — the line runs from this kitchen to Morehouse to Boston to Charlotte to Detroit to everywhere someone opens a can and seasons by feel. The line has no end. The line has always had no end. That's what makes it a line.

The fried chicken and greens are the ceremony — the thing that marks Sunday as Sunday — but when I need something that sits in the middle of the week and holds everybody’s attention while the house is still recalibrating, I reach for this pasta. Five at the table now, a little quieter than seven, and this dish fills the silence the right way: warm, substantial, something to focus on. It’s the kind of food that doesn’t ask anything of you except that you sit down and eat, and some evenings that’s exactly the instruction the table needs.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

12 oz penne or rotini pasta
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (14 oz) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and black pepper to taste
Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water before draining. Drain and set aside.
Season and sear the chicken. Pat chicken pieces dry and season generously with salt, black pepper, and Italian seasoning. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken in a single layer and cook 5—6 minutes, turning once, until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
Build the sauce. Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic to the same skillet and cook 30 seconds until fragrant. Add diced tomatoes and artichoke hearts, stirring to combine. Pour in chicken broth and let the mixture simmer 3—4 minutes, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Finish with cream and cheese. Stir in heavy cream and Parmesan. Simmer 2—3 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly. Add red pepper flakes if using. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Combine and serve. Return chicken to the skillet along with the drained pasta. Toss everything together, adding reserved pasta water a splash at a time if the sauce needs loosening. Divide among four bowls and top with additional Parmesan and fresh parsley.

Nutrition (per serving)

Artichoke Chicken Pasta — The Recipe That Holds the Table Together