PESTO-CRUSTED CHICKEN

A winning weeknight supper that is all cooked in one pan

How brilliantly useful is a jar of pesto? I’m not sure how people survived weeknight cooking before it became a kitchen staple – which was not actually that long ago. It was only after the 1990 World Cup in Italy, when we Brits fell in love with all things Italian (including Pavarotti’s exquisite rendition of ‘Nessun Dorma’) that we saw the first jars of the vibrant green sauce appearing on our supermarket shelves.

There are many variations available now, but the original hails from Genoa and combines basil, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan, salt and olive oil: six formidable ingredients blended together to make a deliciously potent paste. Traditionally it would be served with trofie (a short twist of pasta), often with potatoes and green beans added to the pot, though it will happily coat the strands of any pasta shape. The aim is to not cook the pesto – it is a raw sauce and should merely be tossed with hot pasta and loosened with a little of the cooking water if needed.

Pesto has many other (non-traditional) culinary roles. I love to spoon a little over brothy soups, stir it through braised white beans to serve with roast chicken, shake it into salad dressings or spread it in sandwiches. This week’s recipe mixes pesto with breadcrumbs to make a flavourful crust for chicken breasts. It would also go nicely on top of salmon, cod fillets and cauliflower steaks, or scattered over a fish pie. 4 x free-range chicken breast fillets

A blend of six ingredients, pesto makes a potent paste

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large ovenproof frying pan or shallow casserole over a high heat. Flatten out the chicken breasts slightly so they’re an

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