What's in your fridge? Pesto pasta

Dinner the other night was very much based around what was lurking in the fridge and cupboards; while my expectations weren't high (I'm not a huge pasta fan) and it didn't take long to put together, the end result was pretty good.


The dish below makes for a quick, relatively healthy convenience meal, where the only really essential ingredients are the pasta and pesto: you could use cream (sour or otherwise) instead of the creme fraiche, omit the chicken entirely, add peas or broad beans instead of the broccoli and if you happen to have it, a bit of grated Parmesan sprinkled over the top at the end wouldn't go amiss, either.

Chicken pesto pasta

Serves 2

2 tbsp olive oil
1 chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
1 garlic clove, peeled and lightly crushed with the back of a knife
handful button mushrooms (or whatever variety you happen to have), thinly sliced
200g pasta
1/2 head broccoli, cut into florets
2 tbsp green or red pesto
1/2 lemon, zest only
3 tbsp creme fraiche
salt and black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the chicken breasts and the whole garlic clove, season with salt and black pepper and cook slowly for four to six minutes. Increase the heat and stir in the button mushrooms, cooking until any liquid that they release has evaporated and the chicken is cooked through. Remove the whole garlic clove and discard.

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the packet instructions, adding the broccoli florets two minutes before the end of the cooking time. Drain and reserve a little of the pasta cooking water.

Add the pesto to the frying pan and stir well, so that all the ingredients are well coated. Cook for a couple of minutes, before adding the lemon zest, creme fraiche and a tablespoon of cooking water, to create a sauce. Tip the pasta and broccoli into the pan and mix everything together really well. Serve in bowls.