Spicy Chicken Rigatoni

If you like spicy food, this recipe is for you. I took a Spanish Chicken recipe and turned it into a pasta dish.

Recipe:

1 large dried ancho chile, stemmed and seeded
2 cups chicken stock
2 14.5oz cans diced & fire roasted tomatoes w/green chiles (from Trader Joes)
1 8-12oz can Hunts tomato sauce
1/4 cup canola oil or olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin
2-4 chicken breasts depending on how much you want
1 box mezzi rigatoni
fresh basil to top pasta
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a small saucepan, bring the ancho chile and 1 cup of chicken stock to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until softened, 10 minutes.
2. In a large saucepan, add the oil and add onion, carrot, garlic, bay leaf and cumin and cook until softened about 5-7 minutes. Stir in fire roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce and the broth from the ancho chile and the remaining chicken broth. Simmer for 10 minutes and take out bay leaf. In a food processor or blender, blend the tomato mixture and add back to the saucepan and keep at a simmer.
3. In a skillet, coat the bottom of the skillet with oil and heat. Take the chicken and pat dry and season with salt and pepper. Add to the pan and brown on both sides. Once the chicken is browned add the tomato sauce to the chicken and cover and let the chicken finish cooking under medium-low heat. Meanwhile, boil water for the pasta. Boil the mezzi rigatoni for 10 minutes and drain.
4.Place the pasta on your dish and top with chicken and tomato sauce. I cut up some fresh basil and topped the pasta and served it with broccoli.

Tip:
If you do not like it too spicy, only use 1 can of the fire roasted tomatoes w/green chiles and add another can of plain tomato sauce. Add a little more veggies to the mixture to give it a thick consistency or just use some canned tomatoes.

Halibut or Sea Bass would work nicely with this sauce too!