Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta
This pasta dish tastes deliciously creamy without being high in calories if you use a lighter double cream.
Ingredients
- 4 skinless boneless chicken thighs
- 1 tsp dried basil to season the chicken
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 80ml white wine
- 250g chestnut mushrooms sliced
- 1 litre chicken stock
- 80ml double cream we use Elmlea to reduce the calories
- 300g uncooked penne or any other shape pasta (fresh or dried)
- 70g fresh grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Season the chicken thighs with dried basil, salt and pepper. Heat 2 tsp of the olive oil in a griddle pan or large frying pan over medium to high heat. Add the chicken thighs and sear on both sides until golden brown - approximately 5 minutes on each side. Remove and set aside.
- If you used a griddle pan to cook the chicken, use a large frying pan or casserole dish to continue the recipe - on a medium to high heat, add the remaining olive oil and then fry the onion and garlic until the onion becomes transparent, stirring occasionally (about 2 minutes). Pour in the white wine and allow to simmer for 5 minutes, or until beginning to reduce down.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 3 minutes, while stirring occasionally. Then, add the stock and cream, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the pasta and simmer until the pasta is al dente, about 15 minutes (for dried pasta) and about 10 minutes (for fresh pasta), stirring occasionally.
- While the pasta is cooking and the chicken has cooled down, slice the chicken into strips. Add it to the pasta for the last 5 minutes of cooking, to heat it through and also to get the basil flavour through the sauce.
- Stir in the parmesan cheese until it melts through the sauce. Remove from the heat and allow it to sit for 5 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken.
- Garnish with extra parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.