Vege & Chicken Pesto Risoni

Written By Nikki Casini

An easy go-to that is on high rotation in Nikki’s household. It’s super quick and reheats well, a winner for those who are time poor (which is everyone!). Serves 4-6. 

Ingredients:

  • 1 red capsicum

  • 1 zucchini

  • 4 mushrooms

  • ½ large red onion

  • Punnet mini roma tomatoes

  • 1 lemon juiced

  • Good handful chopped parsley

  • 3 cloves of garlic

  • 200-300g rocket or spinach leaves

  • 2 chicken breast fillets (approx. 600g raw)

  • 2 heaped tsp seasoning

  • 1 cup uncooked risoni pasta

  • 3 cups water

  • 1 heaped teaspoon chicken stock/broth

  • 3 heaped dessert spoons pesto

  • Olive oil

Method: 

  • Pre-heat oven to 200 Degrees Celsius.

  • Roughly chop capsicum, zucchini and red onion and placed onto a tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle over some olive oil, season with salt and pepper and mix and spread evenly over the tray with your hands. Place mushrooms on tray and lightly season with some salt. Pop into oven.

  • While veges are roasting, chop mini Roma tomatoes into halves, mince garlic cloves and juice the lemon. Set aside.

  • Get chicken breast and halve them longways. Put chicken into a bowl with some olive oil and approx. 2tsp seasoning of your choice (I used Mingle ‘Use me on Everything’ seasoning). Mix until chicken is well coated and place in the oven on a tray lined with baking paper.

  • While vege’s are roasting and chicken is cooking, get a large pot/saucepan and drizzle with olive. Once the olive oil is hot add minced garlic and cook for approx. 30 seconds (until you get a good garlic aroma). Add the dry Risoni pasta and chicken stock (I used Nutra Organics Chicken Bone Broth) and stir well before adding 2 cups of water. Combine well and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally.

  • Vege’s will most likely be roasted perfectly by now so grab them out and slice the mushrooms. Once chicken is cooked, allow it to rest for a few minutes before slicing them up into bite-sized pieces.

  • Once the Risoni has soaked up most of the stock/liquid, add the remaining 1 cup of water and mix well. When a thick ‘soupy’ texture is achieved add allllll the goodies in: roasted vege, chicken, roma tomatoes, lemon, pesto (I used ‘Classic Italia Green Pesto’) and spinach/rocket leaves. Mix until well combined and rocket/spinach leaves have wilted.

  • Voila – you’re done, ENJOY!

Nikki Casini
Next

It's Pizza Time