I had no idea. Apparently he has always loved pesto and has just been waiting for me to fulfill his pesto desires. Oops. Anyway, my basil plant went crazy growing lately and so I needed to prune it. Who knew pruning could yield such delicious results? Here's a quick meal I whipped up. I thought Matt was going to lick every bowl in the kitchen that had once contained pesto. I guess that means it was good.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb. chicken breast
3 cups cooked pasta, your choice (I like something with a little texture, so the sauce clings to it)
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts (or walnuts if you can't find pine nuts)
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Cook pasta according to package directions. Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a large skillet. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, season with salt and pepper, and brown in hot oil. Remove from heat.
In a food processor, combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts and pulse until coarsely chopped.
Add a little less than all of the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper. At this point, you can put half of the pesto in a freezer container and drizzle remaining oil over the top because the recipe makes twice as much as you need for this meal. You can freeze for up to 3 months,then thaw and stir in 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese for the next meal.
The remaining half, transfer to a bowl and stir in cheese.
Toss hot pasta, chicken and pesto. Serve topped with additional parmesan.
Pesto recipe from Food Network.
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