Tonight we had whole wheat fettucini with chicken, mushrooms and pesto cream sauce. I LOVE pesto. What’s not to love about fresh basil, cheese, garlic and pine nuts?! I never measure it when I make it but I tried to this time, so I could write it down. And, if pesto wasn’t good enough on its own, adding cream to it makes it exponentially better, of course.
Chicken
1 chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces or whole
salt and pepper
Italian seasoning
olive oil
Season chicken with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Heat oil in a pan. Add chicken and cook through. Slice into strips if you are using a whole breast.
Pesto
3 tbsp toasted pine nuts (I usually toast an extra tbsp to put over the top of the pasta)
3 cloves garlic (I love garlic, feel free to use less)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup fresh basil
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, or as needed
salt to taste
To toast the pine nuts, just place them in a hot, dry pan over medium heat. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. Flip them around once or twice. It will only take a couple minutes. You’ll know they’re done because they’ll have darkened up a bit, and you can smell them.
In a food processor, pulse toasted pine nuts and garlic until combined. Add in basil and process. Add parm and–you guessed it–process until combined.
Add olive oil in a steady stream while continuing to process, to desired consistency. Salt to taste. Leave pesto mixture in processor until ready to use.
Mushrooms/cream
1 tbsp butter
1/2 lb. fresh sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup half and half (or cream)
salt and pepper to taste
Heat butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add mushrooms and cook until tender. Add half and half and bring just to scalding (don’t boil it), let it thicken a couple minutes.
Add about half of the liquid to the food processor with the pesto. Pulse process for just a few seconds until well combined. Pour pesto-cream mixture back into mushroom-cream mixture. Warm through. Toss with pasta and chicken. Top with leftover pine nuts and parmesan cheese if desired.
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