“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,” says chef Poppy O’Toole.
“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
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 tbsp 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 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
Method:
1. 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 two to three hours or on low for six to seven hours. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the slow cooker.
2. Add the basil, lemon juice and hot chicken stock to the slow cooker and blitz using a hand-held stick blender.
3. Add your pasta, stir, then place the lid back on and cook on high for 40 minutes to one 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.
4. 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 Cooks: The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Cookbook’ by Poppy O’Toole (Bloomsbury Publishing, £20).
