Here’s a really lovely midweek meal to put together in no time and leave cooking whilst you relax or get on with other things. Chicken and pesto are always a wonderful combination. Sometimes I make this chicken and pesto open tart with green pesto, as in this recipe – but I also like to vary it with red pesto or aubergine and olive pesto when I can find it.
Another nice variation is to throw over a few walnuts or almond pieces 10 minutes from the end of the cooking time to add a little crunch.
We had friends over at the weekend who are about to go abroad to their homeland to get married (exciting times), and we served up this chicken and pesto open tart and tucked into it together, accompanied by a glass of sparkling white wine – now that we are getting into the warmer season. The tart is also really nice served with this lamb’s lettuce salad with serrano ham and apricots.
Here’s a really lovely tart to put together in no time and leave cooking whilst you relax or get on with other things.
Ingredients
1 sheet of ready rolled puff pastry, defrosted
4 tbsp green or red pesto
A little beaten egg or milk for the glaze
225g chicken, skin and boneless, cut into thin strips
60g frozen spinach leaves, thawed
6 cherry tomatoes
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to season
Fresh basil leaves to garnish
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Open out the ready rolled pastry flat onto a baking tray.
Put the chicken pieces into a mixing bowl, spoon in the pesto and stir them together, coating all of the chicken. Spoon the chicken out onto the pastry, leaving a 2.5cm border filling free around each edge.
Cut the cherry tomatoes into halves and arrange them on top of the chicken, with the cut side up.
Arrange the spinach leaves around the tomatoes.
Turn the pastry edges up and press the corners together to create a border casing for the tart.
Beat the egg in a little bowl and brush it around the pastry border.
Bake in the oven for around 20-30 minutes until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and the pastry is nicely risen and golden brown.
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