Pesto Pasta with Chicken, Asparagus & Arugula

Amber turned 17 on the 9th. That is not right. She cannot be 17. I remember her at 8 — the child who moved into our house in November of 2012 with a pink backpack and a face that had seen too much — and I remember her at 10, when she first called me Mom, and I remember her at 13, when she started looking like Darla in a way that stopped my breath in doorways, and now she is 17, and she is finishing junior year, and she is driving my pickup to her summer job, and she is taller than Gayle and almost as tall as me, and she is the best person I have ever known. She wanted pasta primavera for her birthday dinner. This is the kind of thing Amber asks for — specific, vegetable-forward, slightly fancy, the birthday meal of a girl who has opinions about asparagus. I made it. I made it with cream and parmesan and the summer squash from Gayle's garden. I made the chocolate sheet cake. She ate two pieces. Justin ate two pieces. Tyler ate one. Josie ate three because she is eleven and has the metabolism of a coal furnace.

Dave gave Amber a set of car keys. Not to a new car — to the old Taurus that has been sitting in the side yard since his brother Steve stopped driving it in 2018. Dave had been fixing it up in the garage for three months. He did not tell anyone. Amber looked at the keys and then at Dave and then at me and then back at Dave and she said, "Is this real?" and Dave said, "Yeah," and Amber started crying and Dave started crying — Dave crying is like seeing a mountain cry, you are not prepared for it, the world tilts — and I stood in the kitchen with my dishrag and I watched my husband give my daughter a car and I thought, I did not know my life would look like this. I did not know it was allowed to look like this.

I drove a run to Sioux City Wednesday, a hot one, the cab thermometer reading 107 in the parking lot at the truck stop outside Council Bluffs. I made gazpacho Tuesday night — cold soup, which is not a Nebraska tradition but which Brenda Novak in 2021 is prepared to endorse — and I brought a quart of it in the truck cooler. I ate it at the rest area with a spoon, sitting on the running board, and a driver named Marcus Washington from Memphis came over and said, "What is that?" I said, "Cold tomato soup." He said, "In a truck?" I said, "Yes." He asked for the recipe. I wrote it on a napkin. He folded the napkin and put it in his wallet. Sometimes the book is already happening, one napkin at a time.

The book is at thirty-six thousand. I am halfway plus. Five months to deadline. I can see the shape of it now. I can see the ending. I know where it goes.

When Amber asked for pasta primavera for her birthday dinner — specific, green, with asparagus — I knew exactly the kind of dish she meant: something that felt celebratory without being fussy, the kind of meal that says you were paying attention when you cooked it. This pesto pasta with chicken and asparagus is the version I reach for when the occasion deserves a little more than Tuesday night but the birthday girl deserves to actually enjoy her dinner instead of waiting on something complicated. The arugula wilts in at the end and the whole thing comes together fast enough that I was back in the kitchen for the chocolate sheet cake before anyone got restless.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

12 oz penne or rotini pasta
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 bunch asparagus (about 1 lb), woody ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 cups baby arugula
1/2 cup prepared basil pesto
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for pasta water
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Instructions

Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Before draining, reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Drain and set aside.
Season the chicken. Pat chicken pieces dry and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and the black pepper.
Cook the chicken. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, for 3–4 minutes. Flip and cook another 2–3 minutes until cooked through and lightly golden. Transfer to a plate.
Cook the asparagus. Reduce heat to medium. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the same skillet. Add asparagus and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4–5 minutes until bright green and just tender. Add garlic and red pepper flakes (if using) and cook 1 minute more.
Combine. Return the chicken to the skillet. Add the drained pasta, pesto, and lemon juice. Toss to coat everything evenly. If the sauce seems tight, add reserved pasta water a splash at a time until it loosens to your liking.
Finish with arugula. Remove the skillet from heat. Add the arugula and Parmesan and toss until the arugula is just wilted, about 1 minute.
Serve. Divide into bowls and finish with extra Parmesan and a crack of black pepper if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pesto Pasta with Chicken, Asparagus & Arugula — The Birthday Dinner Amber Asked For