Caffè Rojano chicken strozzapreti
Chicken and strozzapreti in a rich sauce of red pesto, confit garlic, sweet chilli and crème fraîche, from Paul Ainsworth's Padstow restaurant.
The confit garlic takes 2 hrs on a low heat, so make it ahead
4 servings
Ingredients
- 250ml chicken stock
- 150g red pesto
- 25g confit garlic paste (see below)
- 60g sweet chilli sauce
- 40g crème fraîche
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 100g unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 medium chicken breasts, skinned and cut into large dice
- 15 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 300g dried strozzapreti pasta
- 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
- 1 red chilli, thinly sliced
- 15g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 5 large basil leaves, torn
- Sea salt
- Cracked black pepper
For the confit garlic
- 10 garlic cloves, peeled
- 200ml olive oil
Method
- For the confit garlic, put the cloves in a small pan with the olive oil and a pinch of salt. Keep the oil at about 70-80C over a very low heat for 2 hrs until the garlic is soft. Lift out the garlic and mash to a paste.
- For the sauce, whisk the stock, pesto, 25g garlic paste, sweet chilli sauce, crème fraîche and lemon juice together in a pan and bring to a simmer. Whisk in the butter, season and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Season the chicken and brown it all over, then add the tomatoes and the sauce and turn the heat down.
- Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water according to the packet, then drain well.
- Stir the spring onions and chilli into the chicken, then the pasta.
- Finish with the parsley and basil, check the seasoning and serve in one big bowl in the middle of the table.
Notes
- You'll have more confit garlic than you need. Keep the rest, and the garlicky oil, covered in the fridge and use within 4 days (garlic in oil isn't safe to keep longer).
From Paul Ainsworth, Book: For the Love of Food (p. 149)