Pasta With Pesto and Chicken

Photo: flickr user Special*Dark

Ingredients

1 recipe egg pasta, (or 3/4 lb, farfalle or linguine) or dried pasta

Pesto:

cup parmesan cheese, grated

4 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 quart fresh basil leaves, loosely

cup pine nuts

3/4 cup olive oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

salt\pepper

Preparation

PREPARATION: Make the Egg Pasta dough; roll as thin as possible. For farfalle, cut dough into 1-inch wide strips; then cut each strip into 2 inch long pieces. Pinch each piece to form a bow-tie. OR cut dough into 1/8-inch wide strips for linguine.

For The Pesto, grate the cheese. Mash the garlic with the salt to form a smooth paste. Combine the garlic paste, basil, pine nuts, and olive oil in food processor or blender. Puree until smooth. Stir in the cheese.

NOTE: Can be made to this point several hours ahead.

COOKING AND SERVING: Heat the grill or broiler. Toss the chicken with vegetable oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil or grill the chicken, turning once, until just cooked through, about 10 minutes total. Cut into bite-size pieces. Cook pasta in boiling, salted water until tender, about 3 minutes for fresh pasta. Drain and return to pot. Toss with chicken and pesto sauce and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 4 servings.