Pasta pesto with ricotta and chicken

This dish is a real hit at my house! My sister’s girlfriend in particular loves this dish and no week goes by without her asking me if I can make it again (or my Chicken Parmesan, which I’ll be posting soon too). She’ll be looking at me with a grin and ask me: “It’s been a while since we’ve had that paste pesto, isn’t it?” I can’t help but feel flattered every single time.

But she is very right in liking this dish, because it IS absolutely delicious! It’s quite a simple dish, quick and with little ingredients. But the ingredients that are in there go perfect together. The original recipe used heavy cream but I decided to use ricotta instead and, in my opinion, it works perfectly! The ricotta takes a bit off the strong taste of the pesto away and mellows it very nicely so it doesn’t take over the entire dish.

Pasta pesto with ricotta and chicken
Adapted from: Martha Stewart
Serves: 3

Ingredients

• 2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips (about 445 gram)
• 100 gram pesto
• 250 gram fettuccini 
• 3 tablespoons ricotta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil. Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper and cook until golden and cooked through. Cover the pan to keep the chicken warm.
2. In a small saucepan, heat the pesto over low heat until it starts to turn liquid. Add the ricotta and stir until all the ricotta is mixed with the pesto.
3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Before draining the pasta, make sure to catch a little of the cooking water (about 50 ml.).
4. Stir the cooking water through the pesto and ricotta mixture.
5. In a large bowl toss the chicken, pasta and pesto and ricotta mixture and serve with some fresh parmesan cheese.

~ Enjoy!