Chicken is without a doubt the most common protein that comes out of my kitchen. I know I’m not alone. Chicken is popular all over the world, particularly in Australia. Data from the OECD says that the average Aussie eats 42kg of chicken per year. That’s a lot of chicken! We are the third largest consumer of chicken in the world ( the top being the Kentucky Fried Chicken eating Americans). Chicken just seems to appeal to the majority. Who can resist that smell of a roast chicken sizzling away in the oven? You don’t even have to cook it yourself, you can pick one up ready to eat from your supermarket. They are a Godsend! Perfect for just plonking on the table with a salad (in my opinion you can’t go past a supermarket roast chicken and a side of creamy coleslaw) or stuffed into soft bread with a little mayo, salt and pepper.
Whether you cook it yourself or not, a roast chicken is hard to beat. But I personally love it when there’s chicken left over for the following day. That way I’ve got a head start on dinner. Leftover chicken can be turned into a great salad. Toss with cos lettuce, some croutons, bacon and egg, add anchovies if they’re your thing and a creamy dressing with a little parmesan cheese and you’ve got a quick Caesar salad, or toss with boiled potatoes, tomatoes, fresh herbs, eggs, olives, olive oil, vinegar and a little dijon mustard and you’ve got a chicken version of a classic Nicoise salad. Or toss with cooked grains; quinoa, freekah, or even couscous or rice, and add flavour with herbs, spices, olive oil and vinegar, or go spicy with a little harissa, or add a few spoonfuls of pesto. Throw in whatever veg you’ve got lying around – think beyond the staple tomatoes and cucumber – try charred cooked corn kernels, roasted cubes of pumpkin, chunks of avocado, shaved fennel, artichoke hearts, broccoli florets – think outside the box. There aren’t any rules. Leftover chicken gives you the basis to experiment and form a whole new meal with healthy ingredients.
Leftover chicken can be so much more than a salad. Spice it up and turn it into tacos, fajitas or enchiladas. Just add some salsa and Mexican flavours. It makes delicious toasted sandwiches – use thick Turkish bread and add lots of yummy antipasti vegetables and cheese. Or, and this is my personal favourite, toss through pasta. Of course you knew I was going to say that didn’t you? Being Italian, my first instinct is to always toss leftovers with pasta, and why wouldn’t you? Pasta is cheap as chips and bulks out to feed a family with a handful of leftovers mixed through.
Now, I generally favour bold, rich, mostly red sauces. But this creamy sun-dried tomato pasta is one of my all-time favourites. Even if you think you don’t like creamy sauces, think again. This sauce is packed with flavour without the need for anything cheesy (although I do like a sprinkling of parmesan at the end). The flavour bomb is the sun-dried tomato pesto mixed with the cream. I normally just whizz up some sun-dried tomatoes out of a jar to mix in with the cream, but if you don’t want to do that you can use store-bought sun-dried tomato pesto which makes this even easier.
I always make this dish when I’ve got leftover chicken hanging around (in fact I often make two chickens just so I have leftovers to make this dish the following day) but if you want you can cook up a couple of chicken breasts especially, or just buy a BBQ chicken from the supermarket. Of course, any pasta will work, but I particularly like tagliatelle as the sauce clings beautifully to it. I’ve used store-bought Barilla egg noodles which are close as you can get to home-made.
Tagliatelle with Chicken and Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
Ingredients
250g sun-dried tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 cups cream
400g tagliatelle
Approximately 300g leftover cooked chicken, or 2 cooked chicken breasts, roughly sliced
150g sun-dried tomatoes (extra) drained and finely sliced
handful of fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup pine-nuts, toasted
Method
Pulse the sun-dried tomatoes using a food processor until pureed. Scoop into a bowl and add the creamy. Mix to combine.
Cook the tagliatelle in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, pour the sun-dried tomato/cream mixture into a large frypan and heat on medium heat, until just simmering.
Drain the tagliatelle and tip straight into the frypan. Quickly toss to coat the pasta in the sauce. Add the chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, basil and pine-nuts and stir to combine.
Serve immediately.
Serves 4
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