Thyme After Time: When Life Hands You Lemons: Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken

and my Little Red Chevette

Let me tell you about my lemon. I've owned a few of them but this one topped all others.

It was a 1983 Two -Toned Red Chevy Chevette. At the time (way back in the 90's) I was in dire need of a car and some caretakers of an older gentleman who had just passed sold it to me for a sum of $350.00 (which I could barely squeeze into my budget.)

For that $350.00, the car featured a very secure driver's door of a contrasting shade of red, thus "two-tone". In fact, it was so secure that you had to enter and exit through the passenger side. It also featured a small ice skating rink on the front passenger floor any time the temperature went below 32 degrees. The rear view mirror didn't always stay attached to windshield. It was temperamental. What can I say?

I was pulled over twice in that car. The first time was because of a burned out brake light.

The officer suggested that I reattach my rear view mirror so I could better see behind me. Apparently he followed me with his lights flashing for quite a while. He was nice enough to give me a warning as long as I proved I had fixed the aforementioned.

My second time getting pulled over was on the highway. I was running late for work so I was probably going faster than I should have. A state trooper ran into the middle of the highway (yes, on foot) and waved me over. If he knew about my brakes, he may have thought better of that.

So as I sat there, mustering up every fiber of my being, hoping I could cry and get out of a ticket (didn't work), the officer stood there for what seemed like a very long time just shaking his head. Eventually he did speak. It was something like, "I can't believe you would have the nerve to drive this thing on the road let alone 76 mile an hour. Are you out of your mind? I should have this thing towed right now."

After my lecture and a very expensive ticket, my trusty Chevette and I rode off to work...late again.

As time went on, the brakes weren't doing very well. At times, I ran out of brake fluid and had to "stop" and pour more in to get home. (****Warning...Do not ever ever ever try this! Driving without brakes or brake fluid is extremely dangerous and looking back I'm amazed I didn't kill myself.***)

The end of the Chevette came when I decided to sell it to my brother under the condition that before he drove it anywhere, he would use the money to fix the brakes. It met it's demise not far from his house because, well, the brakes went out on him. Everyone was fine except my little red Chevette.

I can't say I really loved that car like others I have owned, most likely because I was terrified every time I got into it. However, it did get me through a few moves and a couple jobs. It lasted much longer than one would suspect. My favorite memory was driving through the park, playing Little Red Corvette by Prince and of course replacing it with "Chevette"

So the lemon we are using in this wonderful rich and cream pasta really isn't much like my Chevette.

It's not red. It's not rusty and you don't need brakes on it. If you take a bite out of it, though, it may be very unpleasant. Alone it may not be the most pleasant of fruits but I see the lemon as more of a means of transportation to get us to a wonderful creamy dish. (Just as my Chevette was a means of transportation to get me though a phase of life where the sour could be tempered with a little cream and hope.) It is an ends to a mean. Life is always going to hand us some kind of lemons, it's how we use them that's important.

Lemon Cream Pasta

1 Tbsp Butter

1Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced

1/4 Cup Sherry

1/2 Cup Chicken Broth

1 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream

1 Lemon, Zested, then cut 1/2

1 lb Chicken Breast Tenders

1 Cup Frozen Sweet Peas, Thawed

1 Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

Small handful of Fresh Parsley, Chopped

1 lb Penne Pasta

Zest your lemon.

Melt the butter with the olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan.

Add the minced garlic and lightly sauté for a minute.

Add lemon zest.

Add Sherry and reduce by half, 2-3 minutes.

Add chicken broth and the juice of 1/2 of the lemon. Reduce for 3 minutes.

Add the heavy cream.

Reduce heat to medium low.

Meanwhile, season the chicken with salt and pepper and grill or cook in a separate pan until done and there's no pink in the middle. Slice into bite-sized pieces and squeeze lemon juice from the other half of your lemon over the cooked chicken.