Sometimes there are stories behind recipes and this is one of them. Back in 2008 (so long ago), in the height of my backpacking years, and when I was producing multiple recipes a year for my readers at Trailcooking, I had finally dialed in how to cook pasta that didn’t need to be drained, and could be done in a smaller pot. My first successful recipe for this one pot method was this recipe. It’s been a staple in our pantry for prepping, as I can make it on a backpacking stove, on a fire, or even in a kitchen. It’s shelf stable, and can be packed into a mason jar for long-term storage.
We packed up our gear and recipes and hit the road. Kirk and I were out hiking for a couple weeks, on vacation, and one day we ended up in the Olympic Mountains, up at Hurricane Ridge, in Washington State. We went for a hike in the wildflowers on the ridges.
After a nice hike, we drove out towards Hurricane Hill, and filmed an episode of Trail Cooking & The Outdoors (we were early adopters to YouTube before it got big) in a very scenic picnic area. I was wearing a microphone setup that blocked a lot of outside sound, but most of the shoot we had a very large Raven in the tree above me talking loudly. It wasn’t happy I wasn’t sharing food with it. It stayed there for a good hour!
- 4-ounces uncooked small pasta shapes
- 1 Tbsp diced sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp diced dried carrots
- 1 Tbsp diced dried shallots or onion
- 1 Tbsp diced dried spinach
- 1 packet chicken broth concentrate
- ½ tsp dried chives
- ¼ tsp dried garlic
- ¼ tsp dried thyme
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 7-ounce pouch chicken breast*
- 1 Tbsp shelf stable parmesan cheese (green can/Kraft)
- 2 packets soy sauce or coconut aminos
Directions:
Pack in a sandwich bag the dry ingredients. Put the Parmesan cheese in a small bag and tuck with the chicken and soy sauce packets.
Bring the dry ingredients, chicken, soy sauce and 1½ cups water to a boil in a small saucepan.
Cook, covered, on low heat (gently bubbling) for 7 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes covered. Add in the cheese, stirring well.
Can be doubled, but use the same amount of chicken. If using canned chicken, add in any broth in the can.
