Chicken Fettuccine with Homemade Pesto

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It was not intended to be, but last weekend was shrouded in red, white, and green.  Yes, Italia. Starting with delicious thin crust pizzas at our favorite pizza joint, Luzzos,on Friday.  Stopping off at the San Gennaro street festival for lunch ,on Sunday.  And ending appropriately with a dish of pesto chicken fettuccine for dinner later that night.

San Gennaro is really my kind of festival.  For me, the appeal of street fairs is all about the food.  This one was callled the "Annual Feast of San Gennaro" and was it a feast!  There were lines of food stalls offering up fresh seafood, chicken parmesan, pastas, pizzas, calzones, italian cookies, biscotti.  Anything remotely Italian was featured in some way along the ten block walk.  I was in heaven.  After scouring the stalls, I finally settled on a chicken parmesan sandwich swimming in a rich tomato sauce.  I couldn't decide on which of the hundred beckoning desserts to try until the owner of an ice cream stall offered me a taste of his refreshing mango gelato. I was sold!

The San Gennaro Festival

That night, inspired by the Italian goodies I had experienced, I decided to make pesto chicken fettuccine.  The day before, Nadir and I had gone to a farmer's market and picked up a variety of vegetables and herbs including a bushel of basil.  We later stopped off at a specialty food store called Eataly (yes a play on the word 'Italy' as everything in the store is Italian).  Its a great store because it has a restaurant in every section of the store.  For example, where I was browsing for pastas, there was a pizza and pasta place, and in the cookie section there was a dessert and coffee counter.  Anyway, we picked up some fresh pasta where we could see a woman making it from scratch beside the counter and took it home.

Fresh Pasta at Eataly

Italian food is fairly simple.  For pastas, its usually served with pesto or marinara sauce, and some sort of vegetable or meat.  What makes some better than others is the quality and freshness of the ingredients.  I combined the basil from the farmers market with some toasted pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and some salt and pepper to taste, to make a fresh pesto.  I then sauteed some chicken in a pan with garlic, paprika, and salt.  While the chicken was cooking, I put the fresh pasta in some boiling water and let it cook for about 8 mins.

Homemade Pesto

Once the pasta was done I drained most of the water except for a cup which I reserved for the sauce.   I added the pesto to the chicken and slowly added about half a cup of water to make the pesto into a sauce (careful not to make it too watery).  I then grated some parmesan cheese onto the chicken and added the fettuccine to the pan coating it well with the sauce.

It was really good!  The taste of the pesto was so much better than the store bought stuff I had used previously.  The basil flavor really came out in the dish and the fresh pasta made a huge difference.  I almost felt like I was eating in Italy.  To add a bit of crunch I toasted some pine nuts in a frying pan and sprinkled it over the pasta along with some fresh basil and grated parmesan cheese.

Recipe for Homemade Pesto


Ingredients
2 cloves garlic
2 cups fresh basil
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup grated parmesan
2/3 cup olive oil
Pinch of salt and pepper

Put the garlic, basil, and pine nuts in a blender and pulse to combine.  Slowly add the olive oil while the blender is running.  Add the parmesan at the end and pusle a few times.

Recipe for Chicken Fettuccine with Pesto

Ingredients
1 lb chicken breast cut into small cubes
1 lb fettuccine
1 cup pesto
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Paprika

1)Put a pot of water to boil on the stove.  Season the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, and saute in a pan until the it is cooked through.

2)Add the fettuccine to the boiling water while the chicken is cooking.  Once the pasta is done keep a cup of the pasta water and drain the rest.

3)Drain the liquids from the chicken and add the pesto.  Keep the heat low.  Add the pasta water a little at a time until the pesto sauce is the consistency you desire.  1/2 a cup or a little less for one cup of pesto should be enough.

4) Grate some parmesan cheese into the sauce before you add the fettuccine so when you mix it, the cheese melts and sticks to the pasta.

5) Add the fettuccine and mix well to coat ensure all the pasta is well coated with the pesto sauce.  Sprinkle some toasted pine nuts on top and some fresh basil on top before serving.