Jamie Olivers Flaky Pastry Pesto Chicken Recipes

PASTA PESTO

Steps:

• Ingredients out • Kettle boiled • Large frying pan, high heat • Large lidded casserole pan, high heat • Food processor (bowl blade)
• START COOKING On a large sheet of greaseproof paper, toss the chicken with sea salt, black pepper, fennel seeds and the rosemary leaves. Fold over the paper, then bash and flatten the chicken to 1.5cm thick with a rolling pin.
• Put the chicken into the frying pan with the rapeseed oil, the bashed unpeeled garlic cloves and halved chillies, turning after about 3 or 4 minutes, until golden and cooked through.
• Line the beans up and cut off the stalks, put into the casserole pan, cover with boiling salted water and cook for 6 minutes with the lid on.
• Pick a few basil leaves for garnish, then rip off the stalks and put the rest of the bunch into the processor with the almonds, Parmesan, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.
• Squash in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher. Blitz until smooth, adding a ladle or two of cooking water from the beans to loosen, then season to taste.
• Slice the lasagne sheets up into random handkerchief shapes and add to the beans to cook for a couple of minutes. Halve or quarter the tomatoes, add to the chicken and give the pan a shake.
• Stir the spinach into the pasta pan, then drain, reserving a cupful of the starchy cooking water. Return the pasta, beans and spinach to the pan, pour in the pesto from the processor and stir together, loosening with splashes of cooking water until silky.
• Slice the chicken breasts in half and serve with the tomatoes and chilli spooned over the top. Finely grate a little extra Parmesan over the pasta, then sprinkle everything with basil leaves.

ROAST CHICKEN AND PESTO

Steps:

• This is a fantastic way to eat a roast chicken - whether it's hot or cold.
• Preheat your oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6, then stuff your chicken with the ½ garlic bulb, one of the lemons and the thyme. Rub the outside with lots of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then rub with olive oil and roast for 1½ hours. To see if it's properly cooked, pierce a thigh with the tip of a knife and check that the juices run clear. If they don't, continue cooking and check again.
• Pound the remaining garlic with a pinch of salt in a pestle and mortar. Scrape the paste into a food processor and whiz with the basil and pine nuts. Pour the mix into a bowl and stir in a few good lugs of olive oil. Add the Parmesan and season with salt, pepper and the juice of the other lemon. If the pesto looks stiff, moisten it with olive oil.
• Serve the chicken in portions - hot or cold - on a big plate with the pesto in a bowl next to it. Better still, tear off bits of chicken and dip in a bowl of pesto before eating - fantastic! Great with rocket and roasted lemon halves, if you like.

JAMIE OLIVER'S FLAKY PASTRY PESTO CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas 7. Unroll the pastry, cut it in half lengthways, then cut each half widthways into 8 equal strips. Flatten the chicken breasts by pounding with your fist until the fat ends as the same thickness as the skinny ends. Place them in a roasting tray, season with sea salt and black pepper, spread over the pesto, then lay 4 overlapping strips of pastry over each breast, tucking them under at the edges. Brush with a little olive oil. Lightly dress the tomato vines in olive oil, season and put into a second tray. Place the chicken tray on the top shelf of the oven with the tomatoes below, and cook for 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the chicken is cooked through. Meanwhile, line up the beans, trim off just the stalk ends, then cook in a pan of boiling salted water for 7 minutes, or until tender. Remove the chicken to a board with half the tomatoes, squashing the rest in a tray and discarding the vines. Drain and toss the beans, taste and season to perfection. Slice the chicken at an angle and serve on top of the beans, with the whole tomatoes. CALORIES 618kcal FAT 34.8g SAT FAT 18g PROTEIN 36.3g CARBS 40.4g SUGAR 7.1g SALT 1.7g FIBRE 4.9g 5 Ingredients by Jamie Oliver is published by Penguin Random House ⓒ Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited. Photographer: David Loftus.