Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta

Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta

Fresh diced chicken breast with a sauce that will knock your socks off!! Basil pesto pasta with a creamy feta cheese sauce.


I love pesto. I've had my mind blown by the idea of the different tastes that can come from mixing and matching the herbs and nuts used in the pesto, and whether or not you put cheese in it. Mint pecan pesto? Sounds tasty! I love a recipe that Rachael Ray had for parsley pesto. It's cheaper than using basil, and very fresh tasting.

I've mentioned the parsley pesto recipe here but I'm posting it again.

Parsley Pesto

2 cups parsley
3 oz jar or 1/4 c pignoli nuts (I leave these out, they're kind of expensive)
1 clove garlic, cracked away from skin (I generally use 2, we love garlic in our house!)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Combine parsley, pignoli nuts, and garlic in food processor or blender. Process and stream in about 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Remove paste to a large serving bowl, stir in pepper and grated cheese. Add the rest of the olive oil, stir to combine.


Super easy! Now, there have been times that I've just dumped everything into the blender and it's turned out great, so don't worry so much about the steps, this is really a fuss free dish. It's done in the time it takes to boil the water for the noodles (unless you have a fancy induction cook top, in which case, it's done before the noodles are al dente!)

Here's a recipe for basil pesto which is fantastic, and the best part about it is that it's made in bulk, so as long as you have noodles in your house, you'll always have a quick dinner!

Basic Basil Pesto
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups loosely packed fresh basil
2/3 cup good quality olive oil

With food processor running, drop in garlic and finely chop. Stop motor and add nuts, cheese, salt, pepper, and basil, then process until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil slowly, blending until incorporated. Store in a tight container in the fridge for up to a week. Or, put pesto in an ice cube tray and freeze. Store pesto cubes in a frozen bag and use on pasta, chicken and salads throughout the year!

So, for the most flavor, you can marinade the chicken in the basil pesto for 2-12 hours, grill it, then cut it up and toss with noodles and more pesto. I also like the idea of just grilling up the chicken while you're making the pesto in the blender and cooking the noodles, dicing it up, and tossing the whole meal together before serving it. I like this way too because I can reserve some of the chicken and noodles aside in case my youngest decides she hates something suddenly.

Now, if you've been reading this thinking, "But I was promised feta cheese!" I can give you an option for that too, I haven't forgotten that!

Here's what you'll need to pull the sauce together:
1 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoons cornstarch
3/4 cup prepared basil pesto
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Stir cornstarch into a couple of tablespoons of chicken broth. Stir remaining chicken broth, pesto, and basil into the skillet, mix cornstarch mixture into the sauce, and cook until thickened. Add feta a few minutes before serving.

Chicken parmigiana, awww yeah!

My husband has been out of town, so I invited 2 ladies that I know over for dinner, and decided to make chicken parmigiana. Most of the time when I make chicken parm, I'll take some shortcut, whether it be prebreaded chicken or bottled sauce, but this time I decided that I wanted to go all the way. I wanted to make the sauce and the chicken myself. I've been reading a lot lately about the benefits of brining poultry before cooking, the two biggies were that it speeds up cooking time and it almost guarantees (if you don't overcook it) a moist piece of meat. Here's what I did:

1 gallon cold water
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
Healthy sprinkling of Italian seasoning (I like the mixture of basil, oregano, thyme and margoram)

I boiled half a gallon of cold water, the salt, sugar, and Italian seasoning. I let it cool for a little while then added the other half gallon. I poured some of the brine in a ziploc baggie with the 4 chicken breasts I was going to use for the parm and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

While the brine was doing it's job, I prepared some roasted garlic for the sauce. My base sauce recipe (what I go off of and add to it as I see fit) calls for 2 cloves of garlic, but I think that's really weak! I'd been wanting to roast garlic for awhile, and now that I've done it, I'm definitely doing it more often (after I buy more garlic!) It takes the bite out of the garlic and leaves a deep comforting flavor. Eating a garlic clove would be disgusting, but if it's roasted, you wouldn't have a problem with it!

I took about 3/4 of a head of garlic, cut the bottoms off, and separated it into individual cloves. Then I put in it a pocket of tin foil, drizzled olive oil on it, and closed up the tin foil pocket. I roasted it at 250 degrees for an hour, and when it was done the roasted garlic came out of the paper skin easily.

So, now it's time for the sauce! 2 turns of a saucepan of olive oil, add a few cloves of chopped garlic and 1/2 a yellow onion. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes, don't let it brown! Add 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, the roasted garlic, and then I like to blend it so I don't have to worry about picky eaters getting mad that I didn't cut the onions smaller (while my eyes are burning and tears are streaming down my face... onion cutting isn't something I like to do!) I then drain a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes (I like the fire roasted ones) and add it to the sauce for texture. Add as much basil as you like (tear it or cut it, I like to cut it into strips myself), salt and pepper.

Now the chicken!

Take your chicken out of the brine and pat it dry. Beat 2 large egg whites, and coat the chicken breasts with the egg whites, then coat in a mixture of 1 cup of bread crumbs (I used panko) and 2 tbsp of Italian seasoning. A little olive oil and a screaming hot pan, 4 minutes on each side. While the chicken is cooking, spray your baking pan with some cooking spray (or coat with oil) and put a little sauce along the bottom. Place chicken in the dish and pour remaining sauce evenly over the chicken. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and bake until bubbly, about 25 minutes.

I served mine with garlic bread and spaghetti noodles. My 2 year old was shoving it into her mouth while asking if she could have some of mine. My 5 year old was scarfing it down. Sometimes chicken parm comes out with dry chicken, but the brine really helps.

Shopping list!

Chicken breast
kosher salt
sugar
Italian seasoning
Garlic
Olive Oil
Eggs
Panko bread crumbs
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Onion
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
14 oz can diced tomatoes
Fresh basil
Parmesan cheese


Seriously though, go to the link above (brine's job), there's a lot of good information on brining.