Lemon Spaghetti

Adapted from Food Network's Giada De Laurentis



I made this dish tonight to take to a family in our ward who just had a baby.  Of course I made extra for us too!  By the time I got home from delivering the meal, we were so hungry {and my son was getting super whiny}, that we were scarfing it down.  I had completely forgotten to take a decent picture.  Right before my husband had his second large bowl, finishing off all of the noodles, I remembered that I needed to take a pic.  So, I grabbed his bowl and snapped a few quick pictures.  Thus, it might not be the greatest picture, but this time don't let the picture advertise the dish.  The dish is one of our favorites.  We love lemon flavor.  The summer squash absorbs the lemon marinade and simply makes the dish.  For some reason the vegetables in dishes always make the dish for me and squash is always one of my favorite vegetables.  I also highly suggest fresh basil, but in a pinch or during winter when your basil plant dies {like mine did last month}, dried basil works as well. 

Ingredients:

• 2 large chicken breasts
• ½ bottle of lemon pepper marinade
• 1 medium sized yellow summer squash, peeled and sliced
• 16 oz spaghetti noodles
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ½ cup lemon juice
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbs lemon zest
• 1/3 cup fresh basil or 2 Tbs dried basil

Directions:

• Puncture chicken breasts with fork and place in large Ziploc bag.   Add marinade and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight. 
• Heat grill to medium heat.  Place summer squash in a vegetable grill pan.  Pour excess marinade over summer squash and spread to make sure all summer squash has some on it to absorb while cooking.  Place vegetable pan on grill.  Grill for about 15 minutes, flipping occasionally.  Place chicken on grill.  Grill chicken for about 5-7 minutes on each side, flipping halfway through cooking.
• Cook spaghetti noodles until al dente.  Drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid.
• Whisk the oil, parmesan and lemon juice in a large bowl to blend.
• Toss the pasta with the lemon sauce and the reserved cooking liquid, adding ¼ cup at a time as needed to moisten.   Season with salt and pepper. 
• Garnish with lemon zest and chopped basil. 
• Serve with extra lemon juice.