On my birthday last year, my parents took me out for lunch. We went to a small, local Italian restaurant called Savanas. The food is good, however seemed kind of unimaginative. I am a big fan of the chicken schnitzel (more about this crazy obsession later), and Savanas does it well, but this time I chose the chicken penne, with a creamy pesto sauce and sun dried tomatoes. I quite enjoyed it, and over a year later, I decided to try and recreate the dish at home.
I used fresh basil from my plant (it is a little bit naked now!), to make the pesto, with pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic and olive oil. It seemed though, that there was a bit too much oil, so I drained a little bit out and used this to pan fry the chicken.
My version was a little different to how I remember it served at Savanas, but it is still delicious. I am sure the pasta sauce at the restaurant was a little creamier, and perhaps looked greener, but mine seemed to be more fragrant, and interesting taste-wise. It is a quick and easy meal, perfect for summer. Serve with crusty bread, toasted and rubbed with garlic, parmesan cheese and lots of black pepper.
Edited 24/3/08, to make recipe serve 4
Chicken Penne with Basil Pesto
Serves 4
Pesto
• 1 cup basil leaves, rinsed, roughly chopped
• ¼ cup parsley leaves, rinsed, roughly chopped
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
Sauce
• Olive Oil
• 3 small chicken breasts
• 1 cup thickened cream
• cracked black pepper
• ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes (optional)
To serve
• 500g (dry weight) penne, cooked
• Grated parmesan cheese
• Cracked black pepper
• Basil leaves
1. Put a pot of lightly salted water on to boil, for the pasta.
2. To make pesto, place ingredients into a food processor and pulse until combined to taste.
3. Heat some olive oil in a fry pan. Add the chicken, cooking for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Remove from the pan, and cut into thin slices.
4. Over low heat, add the pesto to the frypan with the cream and cook for 5 minutes. Return the chicken and sun-dried tomatoes to the pan and stir until chicken coated.
5. Drain the pasta and then return it to the pot. Stir the pesto sauce into the pasta and serve, garnishing with basil leaves.
9 Comments on “Looked Greener”
Hi Lisa! Pesto is what I eat when I’m tired of the too-rich foods, and yours looks great. I only have a blender and mortar, though, and I’m afraid of making horrible-looking pesto (and the jarred stuff is so expensive!).
I’m sure you could get away with it if you chop the ingredients before you put it in the blender. Even chopping it all by hand would work… especially for authenticity!
Oh, agreed. My pesto turned out to be darker than I would’ve liked >:(
It still looked delicious!!
Lisa,
I saw your comment on Manggy’s blog and came here to “know” you – what a fabulous blog you have!
This pasta dish looks so delicious!
thank you so much Patricia! I think this will be my favourite summer dinner 🙂
When making basil pesto (or basil oil–or, for that matter, any other oil from a green herb), add a bit of parsley. It won’t affect the flavor, but it will make a big difference in color. If you really want to get serious about it, blanche the parsley first just until it gets really vivid green, then plunge it into ice water, then add to your recipe.
Thanks for the tip, I am growing fresh parsley at the moment too… but my basil has since died 🙁
hey lisa its MATTHEW DOWNES.. i made the pesto that u have on ur Blor and i loved it.. ur such a good cook u should have ur own restaurant.. 5 STAR MEAL.. ( U ALL MUST TRY ) :]