Creamy Pesto Farfalle with Chicken and Broccoli

So, I finally made dinner with my purchases at the import store. I call it creamy pesto farfalle with chicken and broccoli, but the cream sauce and the pesto sauce weren't mixed at all (though you could probably mix them, if you wanted). I messed up a little, but it still turned out alright.

Creamy Pesto Farfalle with Chicken and Broccoli

Ingredients:

• Chicken breasts (de-fatted, de-skinned, about as many as you would have people to serve, though larger breasts or smaller eaters may allow for changes)
• Farfalle pasta (enough for however many people you're feeding; substitute other pastas as you feel the inspiration)
• Pesto
• Broccoli (one small head feeds two people...heads in America are rarely "small"; cut into bite-size florets)
• Flour
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Thyme (ground or crushed)
• Olive Oil (again, I don't like Extra Virgin since I find it bitter, but you might enjoy it)
• 1/2 Onion, diced
• 3 Cloves Garlic, minced (not crushed)
• Lemon juice
• Shredded parmesan
  

Cream Sauce:

• Butter (I forget exactly how much, maybe half a stick? Salted butter is probably best, but I have no idea what kind I used and it worked fine.)
• Flour
• Milk
• 1 Beef or chicken Boullion cube (optional, I didn't use it this time...you'll also need some celery salt if you do this....and, very important, unsalted butter)

Directions:

1. Tenderize the chicken. If a piece looks like it might be too thick to pan fry, keep a knife, plate and fork handy while you're cooking so that you can cut it into slices near the end.
   
2. Start cooking the farfalle according to directions. Add a little olive oil to the water in order to keep the pasta from sticking to the pot while you are busy with the chicken.
   
3. Mix flour, salt, thyme and pepper together in a wide dish. Place the chicken breasts in the dish and flop them around until they are well coated with the flour.
   
4. Put some olive oil into a frying pan (keep the bottle handy, you may need to add more as the flour will absorb some), heat the pan and add the chicken, onions and garlic. (This is one place I messed up. I sauteed the onions and garlic first, then added the chicken. I ended up burning the onions. Hopefully adding them at this point won't result in failure. )
   
5. Turn the chicken fairly often, making sure it doesn't get much more than a golden brown. Somewhere in the middle of cooking, add about a capfull (or half a capfull) of lemon juice over each chicken breast. Add more oil as necessary, since it will absorb into the four and onions. Once the chicken is looking done, feel free to slice open a thicker part of the chicken and check if it is done. If not, slice the chicken appropriately and return to the pan just long enough to finish it up.
6. At this point, the pasta should be done, so go ahead and drain that.
   
7. Refill the pot with just a little bit of water, add the broccoli, cover and place over low heat. Once the broccoli is a bright green, wait half a minute and take it off the heat and drain.
8. Place the pasta into bowls or onto plates (bowls is probably better, if you have pasta bowls), add the broccoli.
9. In a sauce pan/pot melt the butter. Once melted, add flour and stir. Once well mixed, add milk (and bouillon cube) and stir until thickened. If it's too thick, add more milk. Remember how much pasta this has to spread amongst. If it looks like you don't have enough, try adding more flour and milk (I've never had to do this, so I don't know if it works. Tell me how it turns out, if you try it!).
10. Once the sauce is ready, you may either mix in the pesto or add both to the pasta separately.
11. Slice the chicken into short strips and place on top of the pasta.
    
12. If you didn't burn the onions and garlic too badly, drain them and pat them with a paper towel. Add them to the pasta. (Also, please tell me if the alterations in this step worked!)
    
13. Add shredded parmesan
14. Yay!

So, that's that. Even with blackened onion bits, it was delicious.