Chicken Bianco Pasta

Chicken bianco is what happens when you refuse to dirty a second pan. Every component of this dish, the chicken, the bacon, the onions, the sauce, the pasta itself, all come out of the same skillet, and that's the point. Each step leaves behind a layer of flavor the next step picks up.

Start with the chicken. Season it directly in the pan after you've added a thin film of olive oil, not on a cutting board first. This saves a step and, more importantly, gets the salt hitting the meat right when the heat does. Sear it skin side or smoothest side down for four minutes with the lid on. The lid traps steam and helps the top cook through while the bottom builds a hard golden crust.

Pull the chicken and drop in the diced bacon. The bacon renders into the fond, picking up the browned bits from the chicken. Once the fat is out, the onions go in and cook down in that mixture of bacon fat and chicken drippings. This is the moment most people skip, and it's where half the flavor lives.

The sauce builds in the same pan. Garlic, lemon juice, chicken broth, heavy cream, parmesan. The broth deglazes and loosens every browned bit. The cream mellows the acid from the lemon. The parmesan, added off heat at the end, tightens everything up without breaking.

Cook the pasta directly in this sauce once it's simmering. The starch from the noodles thickens the base the rest of the way, and you skip the separate pot of boiling water. Slide the chicken back in, spoon sauce over the top, finish with green onions. Eat with a fork and the lid of the pan still on the stove behind you.