I decided to give the lovely pasta amatriciana a little twist this time for a change up. It came out great, there was so much flavor. Adding the chicken and then serving this over rice turned it into a nice hearty meal. It is basically the same recipe as my pasta version, just this time I added chicken after the pancetta and let the chicken cook while the tomatoes created a nice juicy sauce for it all the simmer in. Traditional amatriciana is made with pancetta, however if you’re ever unable to get that ingredient, bacon can work as a substitute.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts, cleaned, fat trimmed and cut into small cubes

• 2-3 cups cooked rice

• 2 cartons of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for extra drizzling

• 1 sweet onion, diced

• handful fresh parsley, chopped

• crushed red pepper flakes or fresh red chili pepper

• 3-4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

• 1/4 lb. pancetta, diced or 1 pack of the pre-diced Boar's Head packaged pancetta

• salt and pepper

• grated parmesan or pecorino cheese

Instructions

1. Cook your rice, set aside keeping warm until ready to use.

2. Using a large pan, heat the olive oil then add the hot pepper, diced onions and pancetta. Cook on medium to medium low for at least 5 or so minutes until you cook the pancetta, it won't look pink anymore and then the onions have become translucent.

3. Add the chicken, once the chicken starts to cook around the edges, then add the tomatoes, garlic and parsley. I used the lid to lightly cover the pan for about the first 5-7 minutes, just to create some juice. Then I removed the lid and just let the chicken finish cooking on medium-low, in the juices from the tomatoes as they cook and soften. Stir occasionally until chicken is cooked and no longer pink in the middle.

4. Serve immediately and top with cheese and the extra sprinkles of chopped fresh parsley.

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