This January, Bord Bia is encouraging people to get inventive in the kitchen and try something new with chicken, as it launches its Quality Mark Chicken,’Make It Your Way’ campaign.
High in protein and low in fat, chicken can be used to create exciting meals. It is extremely versatile and there are endless ways to experiment with new recipes and flavours when chicken is the central ingredient.
Bord Bia has developed a new suite of nutritious and easy-to-prepare recipes, perfect for those who are ravenous post-workout and equally for gatherings amongst family and friends.
A recipe always guaranteed to please in the homestead and with the weather due to become imminently colder, this spicy chicken pasta dish, with a cooking time of thirty minutes, offers both wholesome and flavoursome nutrition that is certain to satisfy appetites around the kitchen table.
Ingredients
4 chicken fillets, cut into small pieces, approx. 1½cm
1 tablesp. rapeseed or olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
½ teasp. chilli flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
500mls passata
1 teasp. sugar
300g pasta, shells work well
150g baby spinach
2 tablesp. fresh lemon juice
100g mozzarella, torn into pieces
Handful of basil leaves
To Cook
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or saucepan. Add the onion and allow to soften and brown a little. Add the passata and sugar. Then stir in the chicken, garlic, chilli flakes and seasoning. Bring to a simmer and cook for about ten minutes.
Meanwhile cook the pasta in a large saucepan as per packet instructions. Drain and reserve 100mls of the cooking water. Return the pasta to the saucepan.
Add the spinach to the chicken mixture and allow it to wilt. Add in some of the cooking water if the sauce is too thick. Stir through the lemon juice. Taste and add more seasoning if necessary. Combine the sauce with the pasta. Bring to the table either in one large bowl or individual dishes with the pieces of mozzarella and basil leaves sprinkled over.