Wednesday 27 February 2013

Pesto Pasta








Ingredients

2 x 200 gram Chicken Breasts, Fresh Rosemary, Salt, Pepper, 50 grams of Almonds, 1 cup of grated parmesan plus extra to garnish, 2 large handfuls of fresh basil plus extra to garnish, Juice of 1 Lemon, 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil, 1 minced clove of Garlic, 300 grams of Fresh Lasagne Sheets cut into random handkerchiefs, 300 grams of Green Beans, 4/5 cloves of Garlic, 1 handful of Cherry Tomatoes


To make the pesto: place almonds, parmesan, basil, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic in a food processor and blitz until it looks like pesto. Taste to season. Place the chicken on baking paper and season with rosemary, salt and pepper. Fold the sheet over to cover the entire chicken and beat lightly so the chicken is nice and thin and the rosemary is pushed into the chicken. Put the chicken on a medium to high heat in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil, and 4/5 unpeeled cloves of garlic. While the chicken is cooking, cook the beans in a pot of boiling, salted water. After 2/3 minutes place the lasagne sheets in the same pot to cook. When the pasta is al dente and the beans are cooked, drain the water, keeping about a cup of starchy water. Mix the pesto with the pasta and beans on the heat and add as much starchy water to get the pesto to look like a sauce on the pasta. Place a handful of cherry tomatoes on the pan to cook while you slice up the chicken. Assemble the pasta and sliced chicken on a plate and garnish with basil, tomatoes and parmesan.