Recipe: Chicken, in a tomato, basil and red pepper sauce

Recipe...  
 

 Chicken in a tomato, basil and red pepper sauce served with wholemeal spaghetti and rocket

 

 

Ingredients:

 

500g chicken breast

1 onion finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 large red peppers finely chopped

handful of fresh basil leaves

100g of spinach

500g carton of passata

1tbsp of oil

2-3tsp of Marigold Swiss vegetable Bouillon stock

4 handfuls of rocket leaves

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

 

Serves 4-6

 

Method and story behind my recipe:

 

It was a Friday night a couple of weeks ago and my husband was eating at an Indian restaurant with some friends and so I needed to come up with something interesting for the children and I.  There were some chicken breasts in the fridge and I had bought basil in a pot from the supermarket that week.  I always have onion, garlic and spinach in the house as well as peppers but I had quite a few red peppers hence they feature in this recipe as well as being chosen for their lovely sweet flavour. 

 

So this is how to make this quick and easy pasta dish:

 

• Heat up the oil in a large non-stick (healthier option as less oil needed) pan on medium.
• Cut the chicken breast into bite-size pieces.  (I use scissors rather than a knife as this is quicker and if you want to involve children, it's a safer way of introducing them to preparing meat and poultry). 
• Gently brown the chicken in the oil until it is cooked through.
• Using a food processor, finely chop the onion and garlic and then add to the browned chicken and cook until softened.
• Use the food processor to chop the peppers and then add them to the pan.  Cook until softened.
• Add the passata to the pan, heat through and add the dry stock according to taste and simmer for about 5 minutes.  If the sauce is too thick, then add a little water. 
• Season with black pepper according to taste.  (I prefer not to use too much salt, especially if I'm using stock).
• Add the spinach and stir carefully so that it's coated in the sauce and begins to wilt. 
• Add the basil and take off the heat.  It is a fragrant herb and you won't need a huge amount, however, I do always leave it until the last moment so that the sauce maintains the freshness of the herb once it has been served on to the plate.
• Serve with wholemeal pasta and top the sauce with a handful of fresh rocket and grated Parmesan.

 

I just love adding rocket -
it looks appetising too.

We all enjoyed the meal - I loved the combination of different 'leaves' and I have to be honest, I have a habit of adding rocket to a lot of my pasta dishes because I adore their peppery taste and the contrast to the soft pasta in sauce.  I do try and cook healthy food for my family but seek to ensure the flavours are still good - and there's no reason why they shouldn't be when using tasty ingredients.  This a dish that I will do again, although until I began blogging, many of the dishes I have done in the past I haven't necessarily written down and so each time the meal takes on a different twist or is dictated by what I have in my fridge.  This method of ('making-it-up as you go along') is possibly a favourite and I would encourage you to experiment with cooking and simply using what you have as a starting point.

 

If you try cooking this recipe yourself, please do let me know and if you come up with an alternative, let me know too!