Pasta With Chicken And Asparagus - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1 lb asparagus spear, fresh
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 lb fettuccine (or linguini)
coarse salt
fresh ground pepper
3 tablespoons shallots, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 small chili pepper (or 1 teaspoon dried hot pepper flakes(or to taste)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
1/4 lb gorgonzola
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese, freshly grated

Preparation

Remove all sinew and cartilege from the chicken breast and cut into strips about 1 and 1/2 inches long and a half inch wide.
Scrape and trim the asparagus, discarding any tough ends, and cut on the diagonal into one and half lengths.
Drop the asparagus into rapidly boiling water and cook for just a few moments--they should still be crisp--and drain and reserve, keeping warm.
Cook the pasta in rapidly boiling salted water until al dente and drain and reserve, keeping warm.
Heat the butter in a casserole and add the chicken strips, stirring and seasoning with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, cooking less than a minute, until the chicken just begins to change color.
Add the asparagus and stir.
Add the shallots and cook briefly, about 30 seconds.
Add the cream, hot red pepper (or pepper flakes) and the tarragon and stir.
Break the gorgonzola cheese into small lumps and add it, cooking just until the cheese melts.
Add a generous grinding of black pepper and the tarragon and stir.
Add the drained pasta and toss well.
Serve with grated parmesan on the side.