Sunday 19 October 2008

Sunday night and pasta

I've written about pesto before. It was last year and I was experimenting with Avocado pesto which was an excellent. As I'm blogging twice in one evening I'm going to make the assumption that you've read the earlier post and know we had a load of basil leaves to use up.

The trick with pesto is the order: Garlic, basil, cheese, oil & nuts. Elizabeth David says it is OK to use butter instead of oil but I remain an unbeliever and as yet have not experimented with it. If you have and it works let me know.

We made plenty of pesto, after all if you're going to make a small quantity you might as well make a large quantity right?

That is only part of the story. I was also pleased with what I did with it so here is my sunday chicken, pesto and pasta recipe.

The trick here is to cook things gently. It is really important.

Serves 2
Olive oil
2 chicken breasts cubed
1 chili
1/2 onion finely chopped
1/4 red pepper chopped
1 large mushroom chopped into small pieces
Penne
Pesto

In a frying pan heat some olive oil and gently fry the onion and chili
Add the chicken and continue to cook.
Then add the pepper and mushroom.

Put the pasta in a pan of salted water at a rolling boil.
When al dente, drain, return to the pan and add some olive oil.

I served it by putting the pasta as a base, adding the chicken and putting a huge dollop of pesto on top to allow the diner to choose how to use the pesto. What made the dish for me was that the pesto had all the requisite flavours, the chicken was nicely cooked and every now and then there was a little bite of chili that came in and out to add to the flavours of the dish.

Enjoy.

5 comments:

Deb said...

Did the chili come from the Finnish Monkey House Kitchen Garden by any chance?

Quinntessence said...

did i ever mention my undying love for pesto? no? well, I LOVE PESTO! Pesto for Quinn?

Pebble said...

A little birdie tells me you don't like pine nuts...is this true and if I say my pesto is heavy on the pine nuts will you still talk to me?

C said...

Did the Finnish Monkey House Kitchen Garden by any chance grow any green beans that are dying to be dry-fried and drowned in MSG?

Pebble said...

No unfortunately not but now we know about the craving is back you're welcome to come around and we can experiment with green beans and all that good stuff!