Chicken Pesto Pasta

Difficulty | Serves 6 | Book 5

chicken pesto pasta symply too good cookbook 5

Ingredients
Nutrition

3⅓ cups (300g) penne pasta
PESTO:
2 teaspoons pine nuts
½ teaspoon crushed garlic (in jar)
1 tablespoon finely grated parmesan cheese Kraft®
2 tablespoons water
½ teaspoon salt-reduced chicken stock powder
½ bunch (45g) fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon virgin olive oil
SAUCE:
500g skinless chicken breast
cooking spray
2 teaspoons crushed garlic (in jar)
1 medium size onion diced
2 cups mushrooms sliced
4 tablespoons no-added-salt tomato paste
2 teaspoons salt-reduced chicken stock powder
2 tablespoons cornflour
½ cup skim milk
1 x 340ml can evaporated light milk
35ml skim milk
pepper

Per serve		Chicken	Rump	Lamb	Prawn
Fat	Total	5.2g	7.7g	9.8g	4.4g
	Saturated	1.7g	2.7g	3.7g	1.4g
Fibre		3.1g	3.1g	3.1g	3.1g
Protein		32.7g	30.9g	37.4g	31.2g
Carbs	Total	47.1g	47.1g	47.1g	47.1g
	Sugar	10.7g	10.7g	10.7g	10.7g
Sodium		267mg	274mg	290mg	525mg
Kilojoules		1553 (cals 371)	1614 (cals 385)	1802 (cals 430)	1497 (cals 358)
GI Rating		Low	Low		Low

Method

Cook pasta following instructions on pasta packet, leave to one side.
Pesto: Place pine nuts on a flat sheet of foil and brown under griller (be careful as they burn easily). Place all pesto ingredients into either a small blender or stick blender to blend until a paste is made. Leave to one side.
Sauce: Cut chicken breasts into bite size strips.
Sauté garlic and chicken in a large non-stick frypan that has been coated generously with cooking spray until browned.
Add onion and cook 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook a further 2 minutes.
Fold tomato paste, pesto and stock powder into mix, combine well.
Combine cornflour with skim milks, pour into pan with evaporated milk, bring to boil, pepper to taste.
Add cooked pasta to pan, combine well. Once boiled take off heat as evaporated milk can separate when over boiled.

Variations: Replace chicken with 500g lean rump steaks, lean lamb leg steaks or 500g green peeled prawns.

NOTE: An adapted version of this recipe is also in More Cooking for 1 or 2 people

Suitable to be frozen for 2-3 weeks.

Scroll down to watch me make this recipe

Dietitian's tip

Pasta is a low GI carbohydrate food. However, it is still important that people with diabetes moderate their serving sizes to minimise fluctuations in blood sugars. This serving size is ideal for most people with diabetes.