It is such a long time since I posted anything that I had to come up with a really easy, fabulous recipe to make up for it. So here it goes with the ultimate spring chicken recipe. This has made it into my Mum’s repertoire so it must be easy! (Sorry, Mum) By all means use store bought pesto but I have included my recipe at the bottom for a pesto variation made with toasted almonds.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
500g chicken thigh meat
2 sprig of rosemary, chopped
Flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Juice of a lemon
Broccoli and green beans, cut into bite sized pieces and blanched
3 tablespoons of pesto
Grated parmesan cheese, to serve
500g of short pasta such as penne or farfalle
Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a fry pan over a medium heat. Add the chicken thighs and rosemary and fry until golden brown and cooked through. Turn the heat off and squeeze the juice of the lemon over the chicken.
In a large pot boil the pasta as per the manufacturers recommendations. With three minutes cooking time to go add the beans and broccoli. Drain and stir through the chicken mixture with 3 generous tablespoons of pesto (recipe follows).
Serve with grated parmesan cheese.
Pesto My Way
Ingredients:
1 cup of basil leaves
70g blanched almonds
1 clove of garlic
1/3 of a cup of grated parmesan
1/3 of a cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
Put the almonds in a fry pan over a medium low heat. Keep moving them around until they are a golden brown colour. Take off the heat and let them cool.
Place all the ingredients into a food processor and process until reasonably smooth and hey pesto!
