Smoky Chicken Pasta #86

I love one dish meals, and pasta is my favorite type of one dish meal.  I've had this recipe bookmarked for awhile.  It came from the blog, Plain Chicken.

The case:

Ingredients:
8 oz. Farfalle pasta
1 - 1 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream (I used half & half and 1 Tbsp of flour)
2 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 c. butter (I used 5 Tbsp)
1/2 lb. bacon, crumpled
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 bottle (12 oz) Lawry’s mesquite marinade with lime juice

Directions:
Put chicken and marinade in the crock pot on low for 6 hours. Pull marinated chicken out of the juices, allow to cool a little bit, and shred. Set this aside. About a half-hour before serving, boil the pasta. In a small saucepan, melt butter (and flour), add garlic, whipping cream, basil, pepper, parmesan cheese, and crumpled bacon. Whisk together on low heat for 5-6 minutes. In a large bowl, pour over cooked, drained pasta, add chicken and stir through. Sprinkle a little bit more shredded parmesan cheese on top.

The ruling:
I LOVED the sauce for this, but the chicken flavor didn't do much for me.  Overall this was very good; it's still going on my favorites list.  The white sauce overpowered the chicken flavor.  My favorite chicken in pasta recipes has been simply chicken breast sprinkled with salt, pepper, and Italian herbs, and grilled on the stove top.  I will be making this again, sooner rather than later, using a different type of chicken. 

I did make the sauce a little differently than listed.  First I melted the butter over low heat.  Then I added the basil, pepper, half and half, garlic, 1 Tablespoon flour, and double the Parmesan cheese over medium  heat.  After the cheese melted,  I turned the eye up to medium high and whisked constantly until the mixture came to a boil.  Then I lowered the temperature to lo and continued to stir while adding the bacon.