Two pasta dishes are rarely the same in my house. They are likely to be the result of whatever I have left in my fridge, and it`s more fun that way! I never really buy chicken just to use in a pasta sauce, I use whatever protein I have at hand. In this dish you can also use pork or beef, I mostly end up adding chickpeas or leftover roasted chicken (just skip the first step of browning the chicken).
Ingredients
- 2 x shallots
- 100 g fennel
- 2 clove garlic
- 150 g chicken breast
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp butter
- ½ tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp tomato puree
- ½ can canned tomatoes
- 2 tbsp crème fraîche
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp harissa
- 180 g dried pasta
- 30 g parmesan
- 1 pinch chili flakes
- 1 handful fresh basil
Method
- Finely slice shallots, fennel and garlic.
- Cut the chicken into small pieces. Heat up olive oil in a lage pan and sauté the chicken until until the pieces has nice colour. Season with some salt and black pepper. Add the chicken pieces to a bowl and set to side.
- Decrease the heat and add a knob of butter, the shallot, fennel and garlic to the pan. Add a tbsp or two of water if theres a lot sticking in the bottom of the pan. Simmer on medium/low heat until the vegetables are soft. This will take about 5-10 minutes.
- Crush the fennel seeds roughly with a pestle and mortar (alternatively just keep them whole). Add them to the pan alongside the tomato paste. Simmer for about a minute.
- Add the canned tomatoes. Let reduce a bit, 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in the crème fraîche and the cooked chicken (make sure to also add all the liquid from it) and let simmer for a few seconds before you add lemon juice and harissa (or any other chili paste) to taste.
- Cook the pasta according to the package. Keep some of the cooking liquid.
- Grate the parmesan finely while the pasta is boiling. When the pasta is ready mix the drained pasta, 3/4 of the parmesan, a couple of table spoons (or the amount you need to get a nice texture) of the pasta cooking liquid and a knob of butter into the sauce.
- Add the pasta to plates and top with chili flakes, fresh herbs (bonus point if you got a fennel with it`s fronds still attached) and the rest of the parmesan. Eat!
