15/06/2024
Char-striped chicken, tossed with squeaky beans and penne pasta in a quick crème fraîche and pesto sauce – this supper is light, tasty, and ideal for a summer weekend 🌞 😉
It's easy to throw together too. Start by bashing flat a couple of chicken breasts. Place them on a board between 2 layers of clingfilm, then give them a few smart smacks with the base of a heavy pan – you want them about 1cm thick all over.
Make a marinade with 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 crushed garlic cloves, the juice and grated zest of 1 lemon and ½ tbsp finely chopped rosemary. Lay the chicken in the marinade and let it rest for a couple of hours.
When you're ready to eat, place a griddle pan on a high heat. When it is really hot, lay on the chicken (you might have to do this in 2 goes). Cook until there are deeply coloured char lines on the underside, then flip and cook on the other side. Remove from the heat and rest for 5 mins, before slicing across the grain into chunky strips.
Cook 500g penne pasta, as per the pack instructions. Just before it is cooked, dip a mug into the pan to collect a cupful of the starchy cooking water, then drain the pasta into a colander, return it to the pan, toss with olive oil to stop it sticking, and cover.
While the pasta is cooking, add 200g topped and tailed green beans to a pan of boiling salted water and cook for 4 minutes, or until softened but still firm and squeaky. Drain into a sieve, then run under a cold tap to cool down (this helps keep their firm texture and vivid green colour).
Add the beans to the cooked pasta, then spoon in 100g crème fraîche and 2 tbsp basil pesto (we used Sacla). Squeeze over a little lemon juice, season well with black pepper and salt (if needed), drizzle over a little extra-virgin olive oil and mix together well. You want the pasta to be coated in a kind of loose, glossy sauce – add a little of the reserved pasta cooking water if it’s too dry.
Tip the pasta into a serving dish. Lay on the strips of chicken, pouring over any resting juices, then serve.
