Creamy Avocado & Tomato Pasta Topped with Parmesan Crusted Chicken

I found the base of this recipe on Pinterest and had to try it right away. Who would've thought you could use an avocado to create a cream-based sauce? If you omit the parmesan crusted chicken, you end up with a dairy-free recipe! The original pasta recipe came from "oh she glows" blog, and I added some of my own touches from there. Happy cooking! 

 

Ingredients

For the pasta:

1 medium ripe avocado, peeled and pitted

1 medium tomato, chopped

1/2 lemon, juiced

2 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup fresh basil

2 tablespoons EVOO

10 ounces angel hair pasta (or however much you like--more pasta, less sauce!)

Crushed red pepper, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese, to taste

For the chicken:

2 chicken breasts

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon EVOO

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation

 

Preheat oven to 350º F. Lightly grease a baking dish.

 

In a bowl, blend garlic and olive oil. In a separate bowl, mix bread crumbs, cheese, basil, and pepper. Coat chicken in olive mix and then dip in bread crumb mix.  Arrange chicken in baking dish, topping off with any remaining bread crumbs.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

In the meantime...

Bring a stockpot of water to a boil.

Blend olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and basil in a food processor (I only have a blender and it worked fine-- but a processor would be better).

Add avocado, tomato, and kosher salt to the processor (or blender). Blend together until mixture resembles a creamy sauce. (*The original recipe from Oh She Glows only used avocado. I found that the tomato helped add moisture, therefore allowing everything to blend better.)

Boil pasta. Angel hair will take about 6 minutes, thicker pastas will take longer. Drain and transfer back to pot. Cover with sauce, stir and heat through.

Serve pasta, top with chicken, fresh grated parmesan, ground black pepper, and crushed red pepper.

Eat!