Want to master the slow cooker, especially during this colder season?
We sat down with chef Poppy O’Toole who gave us some delicious recipes and tips for the kitchen appliance that can be daunting.
Including this delicious chicken pesto pasta.
Poppy says: “This has to be the ultimate crowd-pleaser – it’s got chicken, it’s got cheese and it’s got that ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am’ that will get you wanting to make this for dinner more than just one week.
“Also, plot twist … I actually use my slow cooker in summer, too. That’s right, your slow cooker doesn’t need to gather dust during the warmer months. Let’s be controversial and use it year-round.”
Chicken Pesto Pasta
Serves 4
2–3 hours on high / 6–7 hours on low /+ 40 minutes–1 hour on high to cook the pasta
Ingredients
- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 100ml dry white wine (or use chicken stock)
- 100g parmesan, grated, and the parmesan rind if you have it, plus extra to finish
- 70g pine nuts, toasted 1 x 200g ball of mozzarella, torn into pieces
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons full-fat cream cheese
- 100g basil, plus extra leaves to serve
- squeeze of lemon juice
- 500ml hot chicken stock
- 300g rigatoni pasta handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and black pepper
Method
- Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Add them to the bowl of your slow cooker with the wine (or stock), parmesan (including the rind, if using), pine nuts, mozzarella, garlic and cream cheese. Season well again, put the lid on and cook on high for 2–3 hours or on low for 6–7 hours. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the slow cooker.
- Add the basil, lemon juice and hot chicken stock to the slow cooker and blitz using a hand-held stick blender.
- Add your pasta, stir, then place the lid back on and cook on high for 40 minutes–1 hour, until the pasta is tender. In that time, using a pair of kitchen tongs or a couple of forks, pull apart the chicken breasts to shred them.
- When the pasta is cooked, add the chicken back into the slow cooker, toss in your cherry tomatoes, drizzle in your olive oil, and add another little sprinkle of grated parmesan. Serve straight away.
Poppy’s Suggestions
- Dress some rocket leaves with olive oil, salt and pepper and some shavings of parmesan. Put a big handful of the salad on top of the pasta for a bit of freshness.
- You could use shop-bought pesto, which you just add at the start of the cooking process, or even change it up and use a red, tomato-based pesto, which would work really well.
- As I’m a fiend for carbs, a bit of garlic bread will always end up on my plate when I make pasta. The best garlic bread is made in the air fryer, using a baguette. Get 150g softened butter, 6 crushed garlic cloves and a small handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley and mix.
- Cut slices across your baguette, all the way along the length, but not right through (you want it intact at the bottom). Slather the crevices with your buttery mixture. Wrap in foil and air fry for 15 minutes 200°C (or get it into the oven for 20–25 minutes at the same temperature).
Extract taken from The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cookbook by Poppy O’Toole (Bloomsbury)