Creamy spinach, basil & chicken pasta
Prep
15 mins
Cook
25 mins
Servings
4
Difficulty
Medium
This is one of my go to weeknight dinners when I've got leftover chicken and roasted garlic hanging around in the fridge. It comes together in just 40 minutes total, which means you can have a restaurant quality pasta on the table faster than you'd expect. The spinach brings wonderful iron and nutrients to the dish while keeping things light and fresh, and that creamy basil sauce is absolutely divine. Everything gets built on one pan, so cleanup is a breeze too. It's the kind of meal that feels fancy enough to impress but uses simple ingredients you probably already have at home.
Ella x
Ingredients
- 300 glong pasta(we used mafaldine)
- 2 tbspleftover chicken fat(from the roast chicken recipe, below)
- 11 onion finely chopped
- 11 red chilli finely chopped(or 1 tsp chilli flakes)
- 14 leftover roasted garlic cloves mashed
- 2 tbsptomato purée
- 200 mlwhite wine
- 300 gspinach
- 200 g-300g leftover chicken shredded(from the roast chicken recipe, below)
- 1½ lemon juiced
- 1 smallhandful of basil leaves chopped into fine ribbons
- 200 gcrème fraîche
Detail level
Instructions
- 1
Cook the pasta following pack instructions and reserve a mugful of the cooking water. Heat the leftover chicken fat in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and cook for 8-10 mins until softened. Mix in the chilli, garlic and tomato purée, then cook for a further 5 mins until the purée has caramelised. Pour in the wine and simmer for 2-3 mins until almost completely reduced.
- 2
Mix in the spinach and leftover chicken along with a splash of the reserved cooking water. Cook for 3-4 mins until the chicken is heated through, then squeeze in some lemon juice, and add most of the basil, the crème fraîche and cooked pasta. Mix in a splash of cooking liquid to bring it all together, then season to taste, adding more lemon juice if needed. Scatter over the remaining basil to serve.
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