RECIPE: Chicken pesto pasta

I’m always impressed with the gracious hospitality of strangers. I don’t mean some random person on the street inviting me in for a cup of tea, but rather the inviting nature of the friends and family of someone I know. I have observed feeling this way on numerous occasions in the past few months. In some cases, I feel just as comfortable going to the family’s house as I do going home to my own house.

RECIPE: Make your own fresh pesto in five steps

To top it all, I’ve been spoiled by family dinners on most nights I go over. This means I don’t have to cook, I get an unreal meal, and I leave inspired to try new recipes. It’s a winning situation. The other night, I tried a signature dish: chicken pesto pasta. It was incredible. It was so good that the next day I sought out the ingredients and to do my best to replicate the meal.

Using the pesto recipe from the other week, everything else was pretty straightforward. Fingers crossed I’ve done the original recipe justice!

Chicken pesto pasta

INGREDIENTS

– 1 ½ tbsp oil

– 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1″ pieces

– 1 recipe of fresh pesto (about ½ cup)

– 2 large carrots, sliced

– 3 cups broccoli florets

– 1 package of rotini pasta, or any short pasta

– Parmesan cheese, optional

DIRECTIONS

1. Add oil to a large pan and heat on medium-high. Cut the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and add to pan. Brown until cooked through. Near the end of cooking, add the sliced carrots to soften slightly. Remove from heat.

2. While the chicken is cooking, boil a large pot of water for the pasta. Once it’s at a rolling boil, add in the pasta and stir to prevent clumping.

3. As the pasta boils, combine ingredients for the pesto. If using a store-bought pesto, ignore this step.

4. In the last minute of the pasta cooking, add the broccoli florets to lightly steam.

5. Drain the pasta and broccoli and add it to the pan of chicken and carrots. Stir in the pesto until coated.

6. Serve and garnish with Parmesan cheese.