Creamy Pesto Pasta

Today for dinner I made Creamy Pesto Pasta



I've always been a huge fan of pasta dishes and pretty much anything with pesto, so this dish was a no-brainer really. I found myself reaching my limit of tomato and cream based sauces fairly quickly and had to start thinking outside the box. This dish is super easy to make and can be made in no time, it also tastes just as good the second day, I normally make a little too much for dinner so I have lunch sorted for the next day - give those sandwich bags a day off. 









Ardkeen Quality Food Stores is well known for having a great selection of the freshest fruit and vegetables. It's the next best thing to actually growing them in your own garden. Seeing as maintaining a vegetable garden is like having a full time job, I'll gladly leave it to the experts. In this recipe I'm using Asparagus and Chestnut Mushrooms. I have a slight obsession with this combination of vegetables. There are so many different types of mushrooms available these days, but I do have a soft spot for Chestnut mushrooms. Feel free to just use button mushroom or if you're feeling adventurous you can find a selection of wild mushrooms in Store.

Ingredients:

(Serves 2)

• 200g pasta - I used Giant Conchiglie but you can use any shape you like
• 2 large chicken fillets, sliced
• 150g Cream Cheese
• 100g "Wild About" Nettle Pesto
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• Pinch of Salt
• Bunch of 7-8 Asparagus, cut in half
• 5 Large Chestnut Mushrooms, sliced
• 2  Tablespoon Pine Nuts
• Grated Parmesan - To serve

Instructions:

1. Boil water in a large pan with a pinch of salt. Add pasta and stir to loosen from end of pan.

2. Put a little Olive Oil in a frying pan and when the oil is hot add the chicken strips and fry until cooked through. Add mushrooms to chicken as it starts to turn slightly golden. Fry for a few minutes.

3. To prepare the Asparagus, hold the stalk at both ends and snap, where the asparagus break naturally is where it needs to be cut. The part below where it breaks is very woody and not palatable. If you snap one of them you can line it up with the other stalks and then cut the rest of them at the same place to save some time. Cut the prepared stalks in half. After a few minutes add the Asparagus and continue to fry for a further 3-4 minutes.

4. Make sure you keep an eye on the pasta as it does have a tendency to boil over and ruin your oven top. Check your pasta to make sure it's cooked. I like to serve my pasta Al Dente, with a slight bite to it but you can cook it slightly longer if you wish. Strain the pasta and add to the chicken.

5. When everything is tossed together add in your pesto and stir through, I normally add in a little of the pasta water at this stage to loosen the pesto. The pesto I used in this recipe is from a quirky Irish company called "Wild About". When the pesto is mixed through then you can add the Cream Cheese, I normally use the Original Philadelphia but there are so many different types of Cream Cheese these days so feel free to experiment.

6. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes, I normally don't add any seasoning at this point as I find there is enough flavour coming from the pesto and cream cheese. 

7. Take up the pasta, making sure that each person gets a little bit of everything. I normally like to finish it with a dusting of grated Parmesan and topped with 

pine nuts. 

“I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.”