Asiago Chicken Pasta

Bryan Station is 5-0 and the town is paying attention. Not all of Lexington — Lexington has bigger schools and bigger programs and football here is not what football was in Evarts, where the whole town showed up because the whole town was three hundred people and the alternative was staring at the mountain. But in our part of Lexington, on the south side, people know. They know Clay's name. They know his number. They stop me at the gas station and say "Your boy's something else." I say "Thank you" and get in my truck and sit there for a minute being proud in private, which is where Hensleys do their best emotional work.

The EKU coaches came to practice this week. Two of them, in EKU polos, standing on the sideline with clipboards, watching Clay. Clay knew they were there — everyone knew they were there — but he played the same. Same intensity, same focus, same Clay. He didn't perform for them. He just did what he does. That's the thing about Clay: he doesn't have a performance mode. He has one mode. It's always on.

Connie is keeping a scrapbook. She started it in August — articles, photos, game stats, the Herald-Leader piece. She works on it at the kitchen table after dinner, cutting and gluing with the precision of a woman who understands that memory is fragile and paper is not. I don't say anything about it because saying something would make it a Thing and Connie doesn't want it to be a Thing. She wants it to be a record. I understand. I'm doing the same thing with Betty's recipes.

This week: soup weather. The air turned on Wednesday — sixty degrees, gray, the kind of day that demands soup. I made loaded baked potato soup, which is everything good about a baked potato put into liquid form. Bake four russet potatoes at 400 for an hour until soft. Scoop out the insides. In a pot, cook diced onion in butter. Add flour — three tablespoons — and stir for a minute to make a roux. Add chicken broth (four cups) and the potato flesh. Simmer, mashing some of the potato to thicken. Add heavy cream (one cup), shredded cheddar, crumbled bacon, salt, pepper. Stir until the cheese melts. Top each bowl with more cheese, bacon, sour cream, and chives.

It's not Appalachian. Betty would call it "fancy potato soup," which from Betty is not a compliment. But Connie loves it and Clay loves it and sometimes you cook for the audience you have, not the audience your heritage dictates. The soup was thick and cheesy and warm and exactly right for a September evening when the season is turning and the lights are on Friday and the EKU coaches are watching and everything feels like it's building toward something.

The soup I made that Wednesday was exactly right for the moment, but the recipe that keeps coming back to the table on these September evenings — the one Connie requests and Clay never complains about — is this Asiago Chicken Pasta. It has the same logic as the potato soup: warm, rich, cheesy, designed to make a cool evening feel earned. When you’ve spent the week watching someone you love do something remarkable, you want dinner to feel like it belongs in the same category. This one does.

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

Ingredients

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
12 oz penne or rotini pasta
2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Asiago cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for pasta water
2 cups fresh baby spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil
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 pasta water before draining. Set aside.
Sear the chicken. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Cook for 5–6 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Build the sauce. Reduce heat to medium. Melt butter in the same skillet. Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant, stirring constantly to avoid burning.
Add the liquids. Pour in chicken broth and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in heavy cream and Italian seasoning. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 4–5 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken slightly.
Melt in the cheese. Reduce heat to low. Stir in 1 cup of the grated Asiago a little at a time, stirring after each addition until fully melted and smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Combine and finish. Add the drained pasta and cooked chicken back to the skillet. Fold in the baby spinach and toss everything together over low heat for 1–2 minutes until the spinach wilts and the pasta is well coated. Add a splash of reserved pasta water if the sauce needs loosening.
Serve. Divide among bowls or plates. Top each serving with the remaining 1/2 cup Asiago and a sprinkle of fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Asiago Chicken Pasta — When the Season Is Turning and Dinner Has to Deliver