Recipe: Pesto-glazed chicken breast with pesto spaghetti (Curtis Stone)

I have just made some homemade pesto that morning. When I was browsing Curtis Stone's website for more recipes I can make for "Cook Like a Star", his recipe for pesto-glazed chicken breast with spaghetti caught my attention - I like it for its simplicity and ease of making as well as it being a really healthy dinner meal.

Pesto-glazed chicken breast with pesto spaghetti

In my home, we like eating chicken breast because it is lean and healthier. The chicken breasts are first browned in a pan, and then the pesto is spread over the chicken and baked in the oven for about 8-10 minutes. For me, the chicken is moist and I like it with the flavorful pesto sauce. After being baked in the oven, the chicken also has a lovely cheesy crust (Parmesan in the pesto).

Curtis Stone serves his spaghetti with some olive oil and parsley, however since I still have leftover pesto even after coating generous amounts over the chicken, I decided to serve the pesto-glazed chicken breast with pesto spaghetti. Pesto overload? No complains from my little ones for sure, as this is one of their favorite pasta dishes. Baby D likes his pasta with extra torn sweet basil leaves, fresh from the herb garden of course.

A healthy, delicious meal you can prepare in under 30 minutes

Seeing my family eat healthy makes me happy :D

Matching shirt colour to the pesto :P

Pesto-glazed chicken breast with pesto spaghetti
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Curtis Stone
Preparation time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 12-14 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients
1 quantity homemade pesto (recipe here)

2 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
125g dried spaghetti
15g Parmesan cheese, shaved, for garnish
1 tbsp torn basil leaves, for garnish
1 tbsp pine nuts, for garnish


1. Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C.

2. To make the pesto: please refer to recipe here. You can place all ingredients in a food processor to save time.Once the pesto is ready, set aside.

3. For the chicken: Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a large ovenproof sauté pan over high heat. Sprinkle the chicken breasts generously with salt and pepper. Cook the chicken breasts just until golden brown but not yet cooked through, about 2 minutes per side.

4. Remove the pan from the heat. Spread about 1 -1 1/2 tbsp of pesto over the top of the chicken breasts each. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until the chicken is just cooked through, about 8-10  minutes.

5. To prepare the pasta: Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water over high heat
until al dente, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking, about 8-10 minutes. Drain the spaghetti, reserving 3 teaspoons of water - add the water to the remaining pesto to smoothen the paste. Place the pasta in a large bowl, then add the pesto and 1 tbsp olive oil and toss to coat.

6. To serve: Using a two-pronged carving fork, swirl some of the pasta around the fork. Slide the pasta off the fork and mound it in the center of a plate. Repeat for each serving.

7. Cut each chicken breast crosswise and on a slight diagonal into 4-6 slices. Arrange the chicken slices alongside the spaghetti.

8. Garnish with the pine nuts, shaved Parmesan cheese, and torn basil leaves. Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil over and serve.

If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE me on Facebook! Thanks :)

*********************************

I am submitting this to the "Cook Like Curtis Stone" bloghop which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Grace of Life Can Be Simple. To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from any Curtis Stone websites or cookbooks and blog hop with us for the whole month of July 2013.

Your post must be a current post i.e. posted in July 2013 - please do not link older posts.Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Grace of Life Can Be Simple and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

You can get the HTML code here: get the InLinkz code (Click on the link, copy and paste the HTML code into your blog post where you want the blog hop list to appear. Make sure you are in HTML mode when you paste in the code)

Happy cooking! Do check out the other bloggers recipe below: