Mushroom Tomato Linguine

This has become one of our absolute favorite recipes. I found it in my cookbook "What's for Dinner?" by Maryana Vollstedt (she lives in Eugene!)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved
2 parsley sprigs
1/4 teaspoon salt
Water
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 minced cloves of garlic
4-6 mushrooms sliced medium-thin
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried basil)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
12 ounces linguine, cooked
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (we use about 1/2 cup)

Boil chicken with parsley in salted water over medium-low heat until chicken turns white (about 10 minutes). Remove chicken to a plate to cool and discard parsley and water.

In a saucepan warm olive oil over medium heat. Add chopped onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute until veggies are soft, about 5 minutes.

Cut chicken into 12-inch strips and add to veggies. Also add tomatoes, basil leaves, salt, and pepper, and simmer until all flavors are well blended, about 5 minutes more. Toss with linguine, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and serve immediately.

Notes: We like to serve this with homemade bread sticks and spinach salad. One varation we've tried is adding fresh spinach and omitting the chicken. It was just as tasty. We never use 4 whole chicken breasts, and we usually compensate for that by adding more mushrooms and/or noodles. One more side note--we tried this with mozerella and it was awful. The Parmesan is a pretty key ingredient.