Pesto Crust Chicken

I had to go home fairly early today as I was waiting for the seamstress to come over to fix one of my costumes. The woman was late, of course so I was famished just waiting for her. I could not go out to get some dinner and could not go out and get groceries so in desperation, I raided my fridge.

I still had not really had a chance to do proper grocery shopping so all I had was two chicken breast, 1 avocado, 4 eggs, 1 yellow capsicum, potatoes, onions, some baby carrots, a can of olives, a packet of coconut cream, pesto sauce and some kai lan. Hmmm, it had to be fast as I had a shitload of work to plough through if I wanted any sleep tonight. So, I stuffed the chicken breasts into the microwave to defrost - not my favourite thing to do as your chicken inevitably gets overcooked and rubbery no matter how careful you are when you defrost it in this manner. But hey, beggars can't be choosers tonight.

So, another Steph original started taking place - truly another case for necessity is the bitch of invention.

Chicken in Pesto Sauce
2 chicken breasts
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp of Italian herbs (I used McCormick for this)
1/2 tsp of salt
2 tbsp white wine
2 tbsp olive ol
4 tbsp pesto sauce

1. Marinate the chicken breasts in Italian herbs, salt, wine and 1 tbsp of olive oil for at least 15 mins
2. Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade & pat dry with paper napkins
3. Spread the pesto sauce over the chicken on both sides
3. Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet till hot
4. Saute the chicken breasts in the oil, about 5 minutes
5. Flip the breasts carefully, making sure not to dislodge the pesto sauce crust
6. Saute the other side for about another 4 minutes
7. Serve hot

I paired this with a rataouille of sorts and no carbo since I had some soy beancurd dessert in the fridge.

Yellow Rats!tatouille
1 yellow capsicum, sliced into 1 cm strips
About 5 baby carrots, julienned
1 onion, sliced
1 garlic, sliced
1/4 cup of olives, sliced
Olive oil

1. Heat some oilive oil in a skillet
2. Saute the onions an garlic till fragrant
3. Add the peppers & carrots and saute for about 5 mins
4. Add the olives and season to taste

I would have liked to add some mash potatoes to the meal but I am trying to be more healthy and the seamstress arrived just as I finished cooking the veggies. By the time I finished with her and got to eat, it was lukewarm. Bugger.

Still, the meal was fairly good considering how quickly I whipped it up with the few ingredients I had. I would score the chicken about 7/10 but I might add more pesto sauce in the future as some of the crust did get dislodged a bit - I might have spread it too thin. The vegetables were a refreshing side dish to the chicken and I ended wishing I had more capsicums and some zucchini so I could make a ratatouille ratstatouille. Oh well. I give the side Yellow Rats!tatouille a 7/10 too. So overall, the health rating for both is about 8/10. I felt very virtuous after this meal.

P/S. I used a photo I found on the Internet and cannot remember the source so if it is yours, do let me know and I will put in the proper attribution.


Categories - Chicken Run, VeggieMight