It was with some trepidation that I reboarded the pasta train as my last trip took me to Prawn-Linguine-Ville - a destination that lay somewhere between the uninspired and the downright scary. I was planning to cook seared asian beef and best noodle salad but was foiled by my inability to find alfalfa sprouts (or, for that matter, establish exactly what they were) and this was a hastily chosen back up option. I was encouraged however by the fact that the dish required just two pans and one platter - no faffing about with side salads or breadcrumb sprinkles - and also had fond memories of the only other pesto pasta dish I cooked, the "inventive and brilliant" (© One Man and His Food Processor) Broccoli Pasta.
Regular readers will know that my problem with the pasta dishes so far is that, in a nutshell, they do not offer good value for time or money. Although this one does not contain any particularly expensive ingredients, or indeed any that wouldn't already feature in a well stocked kitchen, it was far from one of the easiest meals that I have cooked so far. You start by preparing the chicken and from the moment it hits the frying pan, you know you have basically 8 ish minutes to get everything else done - in this case, prepping all the veg, cooking the pasta and making the pesto. You have to ensure the pasta goes into the veg pan at such a time that it will all be cooked at the same time, and remember to add the spinach just before you drain it.
As it turns out, I managed to do all this fairly successfully, and by the time I got to dishing it up, I was fairly confident that it would turn out to be good. The chicken was golden, almost caramelised, the tomatoes oozy, the chillis nicely charred, the pesto smelled great. The two bags of spinach meant that it should be super healthy. It looked bright and summery and vibrant. And it wasn't a case of style and no substance - it tasted really good and I was pleased to see that the pasta wasn't drowning in sauce it has done in some other dishes. I thought the amount of spinach was excessive to a point where Popeye would have raised an eyebrow (100g would have been plenty) but overall not really any other complaints from me. A fitting way to hit my half century.
Lolz was less enthusiastic about it - she didn't like the fennel seeds and wanted more tomatoes. She gave it 7/10. Difficulty rating 5/10.
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