Chicken in Lemon Cream with Penne

I get hooked on one cookbook and everything I cook comes from it for a while. Yes, Giada again. There are no changes here except I added some cornstarch to thicken the sauce. It was not as much creamy, but rather runny before the miracle of the thickening power of cornstarch helped it out.
It has a lovely, fresh lemon flavor which tastes great on a warm summer night-- or any night. Herbes de Provence sounds fancy, but it can be picked up at any grocery store in the spice aisle.

1 lb penne pasta
3 T olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced into 1" cubes
1 tsp Herbes de Provence
pinch of salt, plus 1/2 tsp
pinch of pepper, plus 1/4 tsp
1 C chicken broth
2 C heavy cream
zest of one lemon
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 C fresh, flat-leaf parsley
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Season the chicken with the Herbes de Provence and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Take the chicken out of the skillet and set aside. Pour off any excess oil from the pan. Add the chicken broth to the pan and cook over med-high heat, using a wooden spoon to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the cream, lemon zest, and cayenne. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for about 10 minutes. ( At this point, I dissolved about 1 T of cornstarch in a little cold water, or you could us chicken broth, and stirred it into the sauce.)

Add the pasta, chicken, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper, chopped parsley, and lemon juice. Toss to coat the pasta and chicken with the sauce and serve. Bon Appetit!