Get home late plus everyone is starving equals "need something on the table fast!" I'd seen a recipe a while back for a lemon pesto with chicken and artichokes. My food processor is broken so I haven't been able to try it (plus do you know how expensive pine nuts are?? Holy sheesh!). I had some canned artichokes I've been wanting to use, so the question was whether I should use a homemade mayo based sauce like the Asian Chicken Salad or a cashew based sauce like the Chicken Alfredo.
I tossed it around in my head for a bit while I was chopping the chicken, and ultimately decided on the cashews. I figured if it didn't work out like I was hoping, I had a better chance of everyone liking a cashew based sauce because it's so yummy. My youngest doesn't care for squash, so I sliced the zucchini super small hoping he wouldn't balk at it. I still had some strips left over from when I made the Vegetable Lasagna, so it was really easy to chop those strips up.
This turned out better than I could have hoped. Since I was going off the cuff (which I don't do very often), I was a little apprehensive about it. Turns out I had nothing to worry about, because it was a huge hit. Yey!
Ingredients:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 T. olive oil
2 T. onion flakes
3/4 cup raw, unsalted cashews
2 T. unsweetened soy milk
1-2 T. Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
1 T. nutritional yeast
2-3 T. lemon juice
5-10 drops liquid smoke
1 can quartered artichoke hearts, drained and brine reserved
1/2 zucchini, quartered and sliced thin
Salt & Pepper
Smoked paprika
Directions:
Drizzle olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add chicken and onion flakes. Cook, stirring frequently, until no longer pink.
While chicken is cooking, prepare the sauce. Put cashews in a blender and process on low until they become powdered. Scrape sides of blender occasionally if it starts to clump.
Add about two tablespoons of artichoke brine, soy milk, liquid aminos, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and liquid smoke. Process on high until completely liquified. If necessary, add a little more artichoke brine. You want the sauce to be thin, because it will thicken up when you heat it.
When chicken is cooked, add zucchini to the pot and stir until soft. Stir in artichoke hearts. Add sauce and heat through until sauce reaches desired thickness.
As always, check seasonings and adjust for taste. I wanted mine fairly lemon heavy, so I ended up adding a little more lemon juice. Serve hot over brown rice or quinoa.
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