2010 Cooking Club Week 7: Pesto Chicken

Right, another pretty simple recipe this week. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing!

Pesto Chicken

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts
8 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 heaped teaspoons green pesto
Splash Extra Virgin Olive Oil
300 g pasta such as linguine, Capelli d’Angello or even spaghetti
300 mls cream
1 teaspoon corn flour
Salt & Pepper

Optional:

200 g mushrooms
Parmesan cheese to finish

Serves 4

Method

Note: For optimum flavour, prepare the chicken as far in advance as you can and leave it in the fridge.
Also, the measurements I’ve provided are guesstimations. I do it by eye, and you’ll no doubt do it that way too

1. Chop chicken into bite sized pieces
2. In a pyrex bowl, mix the chicken, garlic, pesto and olive oil well. As above, if you have time, cover it and leave it to marinate in the fridge for as long as you can – anywhere up to 24 hours.
3. If using mushrooms, add them whole to the mixture, cover and cook in the oven for approx 30 mins at 190 degrees. Mix often so the chicken cooks evenly. Take it out once the chicken is done.
4. While the chicken is in the oven, cook the pasta
5. About 5 minutes before removing the chicken, gently heat the cream and stir in the corn flour.
6. When the chicken is done, add it to the warm cream. There’s likely to be a lot of oil in the bowl, so drain it if you’re watching calories – but it adds flavour!
7. Cook the chicken for a few more minutes in the cream and season. Add the cooked pasta.
8. Serve in pasta bowls. Top with grated parmesan if desired.
9. This is awesome served with garlic bread – just don’t go out that evening because you’ll probably kill people with the smell of garlic!

This isn’t a fancy recipe (although make the pesto yourself if you want more of a challenge!), but it’s extremely tasty and comforting. It’s not light on calories, or garlic, but hopefully you’ll enjoy it .