Making your own pesto may seem a faff, but its very simple to make and allows you to include lots of healthy fats and folate-heavy greens into your diet, plus its quick to make and lasts for a few weeks in the fridge or longer in the freezer.
Serves: 2 | Suitable for 1st trimester pregnancy | Contains dairy | Not suitable for freezing | Preparation: 20 minutes | Cooking: 30 minutes
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10 Portions
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50 mins
prep time -
10 mins
Cook time -
suitable for freezing
Ingredients
- 1 chicken breast
- 300g spinach or wholegrain fusilli pasta
- 2 handfuls of spinach
- Pesto
- 1 handful of spinach
- 1 handful of basil (including stalks)
- 2 tbsp walnuts/ almonds or pine nuts
- 1 tbsp Parmesan, grated
- 1 Piccolo veg stock cube
- 1 garlic clove
- 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Salt & pepper
- Homemade pesto is a great food for babies as it has a lot less salt than shop bought. Simply remove the salt from this recipe for baby friendly pesto pasta!
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper
- Boil the pasta as per packet instructions (when making I make double the pasta and use for lunch the next day). When cooked, drain, add in the spinach leaves and mix through to wilt slightly in the heat. Set aside.
- While the pasta is cooking, lay the chicken breast on a piece of cling film, place another piece on top and bash the chicken breast with a rolling pin until it is a couple of cm thick. Cut in half, season with salt and pepper and place on the baking tray. Roast for 8-10 minutes, turning over half-way through. Ensure cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking, make your pesto in a small blender. Add all the ingredients and blend well. If the mixture is too dry, add more olive oil. Season to taste.
- Mix some of the pesto into the pasta and spinach and place into two bowls, chop some cooked chicken slices on top and grate over some additional grated parmesan.
