Fettuccine with chicken, pesto & potato
Give your left-over roast chicken and potatoes a new lease on life by turning them into a quick and tasty pasta.
Just about all of us are used to seeing left-overs in the fridge. Our fridge at home is no exception. Aside from the things I make on weekends for the blog – things that produce plenty of left-overs – the meals I make during the week produce their fare share, as well.
Pasta or salad is generally my go-to for a quick after-work dinner. We generally get home after 6.30 or 7pm, so the last thing I want to be doing is standing at the stovetop whipping something up. A glass of wine on the couch is more my thing!
When I’m really lazy, it’s a casual walk up the road for dinner at one of our locals – one thing I love about living in this part of town. Dozens of eateries within a 10 minute walk from home.
This may be a bit of a non-recipe – meaning it barely qualifies due to just tossing a few left-overs together – but it’s worth sharing because it makes you think twice about reheating last nights dinner and having it a second time.
I prefer to make my own basil pesto, as nothing from the grocer will ever compare to the real thing. Not one I’ve tried, anyway.
As the water is coming to the boil for the pasta, I make the pesto. It’s actually done in 5 minutes, and I don’t even bother with toasting pine nuts a lot of the time. A few sunflower seeds or pepitas are fine – seeds I usually have in the pantry to toss through salads.
Basil, parmesan, seeds, oil and seasoning – a quick zap in the mini processor and it’s done. Or you could follow my more precise recipe here.
I love to fry up a bit of onion, as well. Not to toss into the pesto, but to build the flavours in the sauce. At this point the pasta is probably in the water boiling away – so I shred the chicken and slice up the roast potato and stir it through the sautéed onions, then just turn off the heat and wait for the pasta to be thrown on top, the pesto mixed through and, well, dinner is ready!
The quantities in the ingredients listed below are only a guide, so use your intuition and taste preference. should you choose to make this.
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servings
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- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic finely grated
- 2 roasted chicken drumsticks or thighs or whatever you've got - even use the stuffing!
- 1 roasted potato cubed or sliced
- ½ cup basil pesto (or as much as you like)
- Cooked pasta of your choice
- Salt & black pepper to taste
- chilli flakes to garnish
- Parmesan cheese to garnish
Ingredients
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- Put a large pot of water on to boil, for the pasta.
- While that is happening, either make your pesto or open your favourite jar of it.
- Heat a skillet over medium-high flame. Toss in the oil, followed by the onions and garlic. Sauté for about 5 minutes, or until soft and opaque.
- It may be time to throw the pasta into the boiling water by now, but make sure you add plenty of salt when it boils.
- While that's going, shred the left-over chicken straight into to cooking onion, followed by the roasted left-over potato. Stir for half a minute then turn off the heat.
- Drain the pasta, toss it straight onto the onion-chicken mixture, pour the pesto on top of the pasta and stir through.
- Taste it for seasoning, then serve.
