This is the creamy cowboy butter pasta, with chicken and farfalle: garlic, Dijon, lemon and paprika, with broth and cream simmered into it.
There is no broccoli, and the recipe says so outright.
Why This Recipe Works
- Browning the chicken and removing it leaves fond that the butter picks up.
- Dijon emulsifies the butter with the lemon juice so the sauce holds together.
- Half a cup each of broth and cream keeps the sauce rich without drowning the butter flavour.
- Reserved pasta water is what brings a butter-and-cream sauce to a clinging consistency.
Ingredient Notes
- Unsalted butter
- Five tablespoons, melted in the pan the chicken browned in. It is the base of the sauce, not a finishing gloss.
- Dijon mustard
- A teaspoon. Small, and what holds the butter and lemon juice together.
- Farfalle
- Twelve ounces. The bowtie shape catches a buttery cream sauce in its folds.
How to Make It
Pasta, and keep the water
Cook farfalle until al dente and reserve 1/2 cup pasta water.
Brown the chicken to 165F
Season chicken and brown in oil until 165 degrees Fahrenheit; transfer.
Make the cowboy butter
Melt butter in the skillet. Add garlic, Dijon, lemon juice, paprika and red pepper flakes.
Make it creamy
Stir in broth and cream and simmer gently until lightly thickened.
Toss, and no broccoli
Toss in farfalle and chicken, loosening with pasta water as needed, and finish with parsley. Do not add broccoli.
Butter First, Cream Second
The order matters more than the ingredient list suggests. The butter sauce is finished before any liquid arrives, which is why it still tastes of butter at the end.
The fond
1 1/2 lb of cubed chicken browned in 1 tbsp olive oil to 165F, then removed
Browned residue in the pan that everything after it is built on. The chicken leaves so it is not simmering while the sauce forms.
The cowboy butter
5 tbsp unsalted butter with 4 garlic cloves, 1 tsp Dijon, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
The dish's whole identity, made as a butter sauce in its own right. The Dijon emulsifies the butter with the lemon juice so it holds rather than splitting into fat and acid.
The cream
A gentle simmer until lightly thickened; a hard boil can split it.1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth and 1/2 cup heavy cream, simmered gently
Turns a butter sauce into a creamy one without diluting it - half a cup of each against five tablespoons of butter, so the butter still leads.
Then taste12 oz of farfalle and the chicken tossed through, loosened with the reserved pasta water, parsley last. No broccoli.
Success Tips
- Keep the sauce at a gentle simmer once the cream is in; a hard boil can split a butter-heavy sauce.
- Reserve the pasta water — five tablespoons of butter needs it to become a sauce rather than a slick.
- Leave the broccoli out.
Serving Ideas
Six servings on plates, the farfalle glossy with the buttery cream sauce and the browned chicken through it, chilli flakes and parsley on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I add broccoli?
No. The recipe says not to.
How is this different from the cowboy butter steak bites?
Same butter base, different protein and pasta: chicken with farfalle here, steak cubes with cheese tortellini there. This one also has cream.
How done should the chicken be?
165 degrees Fahrenheit before it leaves the pan.
