This recipe is my homage to the classic pesto chicken pasta with sun dried tomatoes. But somewhat turned on its head. I went with chicken breast(which I prefer thighs to) because I wanted to test something. I have done yogurt-marinated chicken breast in the past for things like chicken tikka masala. The yogurt marinade makes the chicken very soft and tender, and I figured combining that with poaching the marinated chicken results in a very juicy chicken breast that almost eats like mozzarella cheese in texture. Which is a weird way to describe chicken breast, but trust me when I say it’s surprisingly tasty! For the pasta, I went with mafaldine(because if I’m going to spend $30 on that pasta extruder tip, I’m sure using it) and because the ridges really capture the sauce. The sauce is a pesto-ish, being a creamy pine nut emulsion with blanched kale, basil, and garlic. It tastes like pesto, but it is a lot lighter. And since I had sun-dried tomatoes I needed to use up, it was perfect to throw those in there too for color, some acidity, and more texture. So while this might in appearance look like your stereotypical chicken pesto pasta, there are some nuances to it that result in a pasta dish that will leave you feeling light and not food coma’d!

Makes 2 servings:
For the pasta dough:
1 cup semolina flour
1/3 cup water
a pinch of salt

Mix the ingredients together to form a dough. Extrude the dough into malfadine, or cut into noodles that are at least 8 inches long. Boil in heavily salted water for 45 seconds before finishing in the sauce(make sure that the chicken is cooked and the sauce is made before doing this step).

For the yogurt-poached chicken:
2 chicken breasts
4oz Greek yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 tsp salt
2 cups chicken stock

In a bowl, mix chicken breasts with yogurt, garlic, and salt and allow them to sit, covered, for 1 hour. On low heat, poach the chicken breasts in the chicken stock for 20 minutes. Allow the chicken to cool down before shredding.

For the creamy herb sauce:
20 fresh basil leaves
1 bunch kale, stems removed
a pinch of salt
2 cloves garlic
1 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup water

Blanch the basil and kale for 10 seconds then shock both in cold water. Blanch the garlic in the water for 2 minutes. In a blender, puree everything together to form your creamy herb sauce.

For finishing:
Sun-dried tomatoes