Lush Cuisine

Passport & Plate - Pasta with Tarragon Chicken

Italy | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 1 photos

Ingredients
4 chicken thighs, fat trimmed, chopped
1 bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, twisted and roughly chopped (so as to release the flavour)
2 tsp tarragon (dried is fine)
2/3 cup of white wine
3 tins of diced tomatoes (the higher the quality the better)
Olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2/3 packet of spaghetti

 

How to prepare this recipe
Drizzle a good splash of olive oil into a sturdy pan and place over medium heat. Once warmed add the chicken pieces and sprinkle over with the tarragon. Cook for about 5 – 10 minutes. The idea is to cook the chicken until it is coloured (DEFINITELY not browned). Remove the chicken from the pan with a slotted spoon, so as to reserve the oil (where a large concentration of the flavour is) and set aside.
Lower the heat and add the garlic to the pan. Allow to sweat for two minutes to release the flavour. Add the wine and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until reduced by about half. Add the tinned tomatoes to the pan, bring to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer. (If you really enjoy the taste of tarragon you can add another sprinkling of it to the pan).
Meanwhile, put a large pot of salted water on to boil for the spaghetti. (It’s been said that adding olive oil to the water stops the strands from sticking together but I haven’t had much luck with this technique, the best way to guard against this is regular stirring and cooking your pasta in a large pot). When the water boils, add the spaghetti to the water and cook until al dente. At the same time add the chicken back to the pan along with the fresh basil (by the time the spaghetti is cooked the basil will be wilted but still chockfull of yummy basil flavour).
Before draining the spaghetti, check on your sauce. If it’s not runny enough you can add a couple of ladles of the pasta water to it, it’s full of salt and starch, so it will add to the cohesiveness to the pasta as well as the flavour. Season with salt and pepper.
Drain the spaghetti and divide into four bowls. Ladle over the sauce and tuck in. (This dish goes really well with garlic bread.)

 

The story behind this recipe
The first time I ate this dish I was eight years old. I remember the exact moment I put it in my mouth. I thought “This is better than Maccas”.
From an eight year old there can be no higher praise than that. It was a pivotal moment that started my culinary adventure – healthy food doesn’t have to be boring. I’ve found that the most pleasurable relationships had by people with food are underpinned with this philosophy: “for the majority of your meals your food should be equal parts nutritious and tasty.” If you are not enjoying your meal then there is no point. Food needs to nourish the mind AND body. One cannot do that with fast food, or with diets consisting largely of raw vegetables.
The smell of crushed garlic before it hits the pan covered in olive oil would literally yank me by nose into the kitchen. I would be crossing my fingers thinking ‘please let mum be cooking what I think she’s cooking’. Once I got a peppery whiff of basil I knew my favourite food was on its way.
I have kept this dish at the top of my repertoire for many years; it has saved me more than once from throwing a disastrous dinner party and help me entice many a hearty man (salty, garlicky carbs are the ultimate seductress).
I feel that this recipe perfectly encapsulates the soul of Italian cuisine in that it emphasizes simplicity and the integrity of the ingredients. High quality, fresh produce with very little done to them. If I went to Italy I would lick the plate after every meal!