Chicken and Spinach Pasta

Perfect for a lunch with friends, this chicken recipe can be cooked using any pasta you choose. My favourites are fettuccine, spaghetti or medium sized shell pasta. I also use silver beet tops instead of spinach and you may like to do the same.

The recipe looks a lot more complicated than it is, especially broken down into steps as I've done here. The ingredients are for four people.

The Chicken:

• 6 chicken thigh fillets
• 2tbs dark soy sauce
• 1tbs thickened balsamic vinegar
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed flat

Put all these ingredients into a food-safe plastic bag. Put this inside a suitable bowl and leave in the refrigerator overnight. An hour before you intend to use them, drain the fillets, whack them on a rack on the barbie and cook, covered, for 20 minutes. Keep warm.

The Sauce:

• 1 bunch spinach or 1 packet frozen
• 1tbs oilive oil
• 2 slices pancetta or bacon, chopped
• 2 French shallots, chopped
• 250g button mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 1/4 cup chicken stock

Let's deal with the spinach first. If it's fresh you need to cook it by putting it in a large bowl and pouring over it enough boiling water to cover, or else steam it for 3-4 minutes. Then plunge it into cold water.

If your spinach is of the frozen variety, let it thaw completely. In both cases you need to squeeze as much water as possible out of the leaves so that you are left with 3 or 4 balls of spinach that are barely damp. Chop these finely, which you will find very easy and quite satisfying to do.

Heat the oil in a suitable pan and add the pancetta and chopped shallots. Saute until the shallots are soft and the bacon has a little color. Stir in the mushromm slices and cook through on a low heat, covered to allow them to sweat. If the mix looks like drying out, add the stock at this stage.

While that's happening, chop the chicken fillets into bite sized fillets. Add these, the spinach and the parmesan to the sauce and stir to mix. Remove from the heat, but keep warm.

The Fettuccine:

Cook 500g (about 1lb) of fettuccine or other pasta in boiling salted water according to the instructions on the packet. Just before draining reserve roughly half a cup of the cooking liquid. Drain the fettuccine thoroughly, return it to the cooking pot and add back in the reserved liquid plus one tablespoon of good olive oil or two knobs of butter. Swish this round until the pasta is fully coated, grate some black pepper over it and arrange it in four pasta bowls. Top with the sauce and serve immediately.

Have a little extra parmesan handy and serve with a crisp salad dressed in a classic vinaigrette and some fresh crusty bread. The wine I like best with this is a well chilled rose (blush) or white shiraz.

print this chicken recipe