Chicken and Chilli Pesto Rigatoni Pasta

I recently a won a hamper of foodie goodies from Sacla, the pesto makers. To say I was delighted is a bit of an understatement, I was thrilled. Here’s a picture of my lovely hamper.

As you can see my hamper contains a variety of pesto and stir in sauces. Plus there’s a fab recipe book, which I hope to use very soon and a tea towel. Thank you Sacla, I love my prize.

Inspired by Carolin’s gorgeous looking Mediterranean pasta recipe at Mummy Alarm and anticipating that I would be eating alone I decided whip up a quick bowl of pasta for my dinner. I used the Sacla chilli and tomato pesto sauce I had won along with some chopped chicken breast fillet, frozen spinach and tomatoes. My pasta was ready in no time at all. By then my husband had arrived home unexpectedly early and decided that my pasta looked pretty tasty and wanted to try some. So he did and gave it top marks. Thankfully, I was able to eat the rest.

Ingredients (Serves 1 easily multiplied)

100g rigatoni pasta
1 skinless chicken breast (chopped in pieces)
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
80g frozen spinach
6 pomodorino tomatoes
3 tablespoons approx Sacla chilli and tomato pesto
Grated Parmesan cheese to serve

Method

1. In a frying pan heat the olive oil, then sauté the chicken pieces until cooked through.

2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water until al dente. Reserve a small cup of the cooking water for later.

3. Still on the heat add the frozen spinach to the pan of cooked chicken. Turn the spinach chunks over every now and again to help them defrost and cook.

4. Once the spinach is warmed through add the cooked pasta to the pan, along with 3 tablespoon of chilli pesto, the tomatoes and a splash of the cooking water. This helps to loosen the pesto but isn’t essential, just depends how you like it.

5. Turn up the heat and stir so everything is beautifully coated and heated through.

6. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Watch this space for further pesto inspired recipes as I intend to use up all the goodies from my hamper.

Until next time.

Julie
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