Food Friday: Recipe for Chicken in Pesto Cream Sauce with Pasta

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We are Passionate about Pasta!  Nuts about Noodles! So what could be better than a Series about this Sensational Subject on Food Friday?! (Can you tell I love aliteration? ok, enough already:)

Seriously, though, I have been thrilled to have Kate share her wonderful pasta recipes with us these last few weeks! I have loved not only the recipes, but her descriptions which transport me to charming corners of the world which I have only dreamt about!  (I do so love to travel:)  If you have not read her other guest posts, make sure you go back and check them out when you're done reading today's recipe.

Also, if you have a great recipe that you'd like to share here, please type it into an email (see "Contact Me" above), and include your contact information, so I can get back to you.  I would love to have recipes from all around the country and the world!  Wouldn't that be fun? (It's ok if it's in a different language; we can most likely get it translated.)

Also, if you would like to Guest Post on something other than a recipe, please let me know! I'm still going to be needing more time away from posting this next month, and for a couple of weeks in October, so I will need a bunch of people willing to write a Guest Post!  This is a great way to gain more exposure, visitors to your blog and followers!  (I would also be happy to trade off with you for a post at a future date.)  If you're willing to write one or more posts, let me know!  Maybe a series?  Thanks! And now, here's Kate (Thank you again!) with another of her fabulous pasta recipes!

Hello everyone,
I feel truly blessed that Wendy has allowed me to share another one of my recipes with you today.  As I have said before, I love fresh ingredients and there is nothing simpler than pesto when it comes to Italian food.  The combination of fresh basil and pine nuts is just absolutely amazing.  Fresh basil, or fresh pesto for that matter, always reminds me of small herb gardens tucked away behind small stone walls next to old houses, full of herbs and wonderful smells.  I always think it is sad that in today's big cities no one has an herb garden anymore.  I am not very talented at gardening myself, though.  I keep my basil and other fresh herbs on my kitchen window sill and they just keep on dying on me, but nothing changes a dish more than switching from dried herbs to using fresh herbs.  (I just keep buying new plants and hope that the next time around they will not die on me again.)  Fresh, homemade pesto always tastes like spring or summer to me.  It just has a really rich flavor.

Pasta with pesto is a simple and quick meal and a bit too simple and quick to share, in my opinion.  So instead I want to share a very simple chicken recipe with you:  Chicken in Pesto Cream Sauce with Pasta.  (Please note that the homemade pesto as described in the recipe can also be used with pasta to give you a full meal.  It can be stored in the fridge for about a week, longer if you freeze it).

Chicken in Pesto Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp pine nuts
1 to 1.2lb chicken breasts
1/2 lb tomatoes
6 ounces (1/2 a big package) cream or half-and-half
1/2 - 1 vegetable bouillon cube (depending on personal preference)
3 Tbsp Pesto (homemade: see recipe below; or store bought)
pepper
salt
fresh basil to garnish with
one package pasta (long would be best like spaghetti or tagiatelle)

Pesto--if you want to make it yourself, otherwise any green pesto from the supermarket will do.
Ingredients:
.2 lb Basil, fresh
2 Tbs pine nuts
one garlic clove
1/2 Tbsp salt
5.7 ounces olive oil
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, fresh if possible

Directions for Pesto:

Add one ingredient after another (not the parmesan cheese) in a bowl you can use with your handmixer.
Mix with your handmixer until everything is well mixed and one paste.
Add parmesan cheese and slowly stir.
Whatever you do not need you can refrigerate or freeze.

Directions for Chicken in Pesto Cream Sauce:

Roast pine nuts, without any oil, in a pan.
When they are golden brown, take them out of the pan and set them aside for cooling.
Wash the chicken breast.
Heat up a pan and add some oil.
Add chicken and roast all around on medium heat for about 10 minutes (until it is done).  Add some pepper and salt.
When the chicken is done take it out of the pan (DON'T wash the pan, we need the meat juice :) and set it aside, but keep it warm.
Wash and chop up tomatoes.
Use the same pan and add the tomatoes.
Stir until warm and set aside, but keep the meat/tomato juice in the pan.
Start boiling water for the pasta.
Now use the same pan again and add 8 ounces of water and the cream.
Slowly heat small pieces of the vegetable bouillon cube and make sure it dissolves properly.
Cook until boiling, then turn the heat down to medium heat and let it cook for 10 minutes.
While the sauce cooks, you can cook the pasta according to directions on the package.  It usually takes between 8 and 12 minutes.
When the sauce has cooked for 10 minutes, add the pesto and some salt and pepper according to taste.
Cut the chicken breasts in long slices.
Add one portion of pasta to a plate, top with slices of chicken breast, tomatoes and pine nuts, then top with sauce.  Use basil as garnish.
Enjoy your meal!