Recipe || Pesto Gnocchi with Parmesan Chicken
Christmas food is incredible, right? But there does come a point where you’ve had enough sweet and creamy deliciousness and just crave some simple fresh food. What comes to mind when I want something quick and delicious is without a doubt, Italian. Mediterranean style cooking conjours images of herbs, tomatoes and delightfully simple chicken, so that’s exactly what we made for our lunch, taking some time out from ploughing on with DIY in the bathroom (our current winter project…).
When Jamie’s Italian approached me with a collaboration for a recipe using pasta, I honestly couldn’t think of one single recipe I wanted to create – mainly as there were too many favourites to choose from! The perfect sponsored post if you ask me! My staple food is definitely pasta, I could (and have) lived off the stuff! However, the seasons determine my preference – spring time farfalle stirred into some light veg, summer linguine or penne tossed with feta salad or fresh fish, rich autumn spaghetti bolognaise and for winter, there’s nothing more delicious than gnocchi, preferably with a thick casserole style sauce or lashings of pesto- delish!
Therefore, today’s recipe involves a breast of chicken per person -we prefer to buy a whole chicken, slice off the breasts and then use the dark meat for curry, as well boiling the bones for soup or broth – bargain! The chicken was then seasoned in a stock cube and fried off until cooked through in a hot pan, before being topped with sun dried tomato paste and a decent sprinkling of Parmesan, which goes beautifully crispy. As we had some purple sprouting and broccoli is up there in the world’s top vegetables, it was steamed as the perfect accompaniment to the gnocchi and chicken. Interestingly, most gnocchi is suitable for vegans unlike a lot of fresh pastas which contain egg – gnocchi are just potato dumplings that you pop into a pan of boiling water for about 3 mins until they all float which lets you know they’re done. Once cooked, drain and stir in a dollop of pesto, another of soft cheese, lots of crushed black pepper and some fresh basil.
Serve up and devour with lip smacking a-plenty! Plus, the gnocchi can be replaced by any other pasta alternative that takes your fancy, such as some of the more obscure varieties listed below!
What’s your favourite pasta? Have you ever tried anything more unusual like corzetti or cuscussù?
