A delicious, fresh pasta dish with chicken and sun dried tomatoes
Course dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Chicken pasta dinner, Chicken pesto pasta, Orrechette, pasta dinner
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 25 minutesminutes
Total Time 40 minutesminutes
Servings 6servings
Ingredients
For pasta:
16ozOrecchiette pasta (or any pasta you wish)
2rotisserie chicken breasts, sliced 1/2" thick
4ozsoft goat cheese
½cupsun dried tomatoes, packed in oil
For pesto:
2-3small garlic cloves, peeled
2cupsfresh basil leaves, packed
⅓cuppine nuts (plus more for garnish)
⅓cupfreshly grated Parmesan cheese
½cup extra virgin olive oil (you may use less)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
Place a large pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta to package instructions. While you wait for water to boil, slice rotisserie chicken and make pesto.
Make Pesto:
Pulse garlic in food processor, then add basil leaves, pine nuts and parmesan. Puree in processor, slowly adding olive oil till desired until consistency is achieved, you may not use all of it. We want this pesto to be more like a sauce than a paste. Add a generous pinch of sea salt and a few turns of fresh pepper, scrape down sides of processor and process again adding more olive oil if necessary. Tip: To save extra pesto, just place in a small dish, drizzle with olive oil to prevent oxidation and cover with lid or plastic. Keep in fridge for up to 5 days.
When pasta is done cooking, strain (do not rinse) add pasta to a large bowl. Add chicken, and sun dried tomatoes, then add half the pesto and toss until evenly distributed. Now you add pesto a tablespoon or two at a time until the pasta is covered to your liking. Some people like their pesto light, some heavy, you decide. Personally, I use all of it :)
To plate: place pasta on individual plates, top with soft goat cheese and pine nuts. Serve.
Notes
I offer this recipe using store bought rotisserie chicken breasts, but if you prefer, you can use my juicy cooktop chicken breastsin this recipe. Either way, this meal is delicious. If you choose to make your own chicken breasts, add 15 minutes to cooking time.