Camp Dinner made easy - Pesto Chicken Pasta

If you’re a camper and you want to level up your camp cuisine away from coles sausages and white bread, here’s something that even the most cooking challenged nuffy can pull off - Creamy Pesto Chicken with Penne.  

It doesnt get much easier than this when it comes to camp cooking and you’re going to look like a pro when you serve this up round the camp fire.

Here’s all you need,

1 x bag Pasta - ( penne, rigatoni, shells - any of these will do )

1 x jar Basil Pesto - store bought is fine ( otherwise - it’s dead easy to make - blend fresh basil,olive oil,salt pepper, pinenuts and parmesan )

1 x bottle Cooking cream

4 x Chicken Thighs

Parmesan cheese - ( get a block and grate it - the pre grated stuff has additives in it to make it not stick together. )

The above amount would serve 2 - 3 people.

Okay i’m assuming everyone can cook pasta in salted water , so lets skip that part - except to say you’ll need some of the pasta water, so dont strain it all off.

Pat dry your chicken thighs and salt them before grilling them whole in a medium size cast iron pan, i dont slice chicken thigh before cooking as i dont want them to dry out in the pan. Generally i grill them until they have color on both sides, and  are obviously cooked through - slice into the thickest part of the thigh to check done ness - white is cooked - pink is raw.

Pull apart your cooked chicken in the pan into bite size pieces and turn the heat down to low if your using a gas BBQ - if cooking over fire take the pan off the coals.

Add the pesto into the pan and stir through the chicken then add about a tablespoon of the pasta water - maybe a little more if needed. Return to a medium heat and stir until the water is combined an it starts to go saucy.

Next up add a little cream - ( add as much or as little as you want - i use about half a small bottle usually ) - stir through the chicken and keep at a medium heat then add your pasta to the creamy chicken, keep stirring until you have a nice saucy creamy consistency.

Time to add some parmesan - generally i add a handful of parmesan to the pasta and melt it in to the sauce, then serve into bowls - add more grated parmesan on top along with some cracked black pepper.

There it is - Creamy pesto chicken pasta. 

A couple of side notes. 

1 - use this method to make most creamy pasta dishes, just swap out the pesto for a different sauce. 

2 - Make this into a salad - cook everything but don’t add the cream - refrigerate over night then add a good mayo to the pesta pasta. Then stir through some chopped sun dried tomato’s, a bunch of baby spinach and some toasted pine nuts.

3. Dont add the pasta - refrigerate the pesto chicken over night, use the chicken as a jaffle filling or in between a toasted turkish roll. 

4. Pro Tip - don’t forget to pack forks like we did.

Enjoy.