Chicken And Lemon Bolognese

Here is where you find out how freaky I am - I don't like tomatoes! There, I've said it.  I do eat them, especially when they are disguised but I prefer tomato-free foods where possible. So this creamy pasta sauce is a beauty in my opinion.  It has chicken, it has lemon, it has cream; sounds delicious already, don't you think?

This recipe from a Cuisine NZ magazine has been lurking in my kitchen for a while now. I wanted to make something fairly simple for dinner with friends, so this was calling out to be made. Have I mentioned my horror story about going to a friend's for dinner, and being served thick spaghetti with a completely plain and completely unappetising tomato sauce?  It gives me shudders down my spine just to think of it.  Well, this recipe will not disappoint, I promise you.  This is the polar opposite of plain and unappetising.     

creamy, lemony chicken pasta sauce 

Serves 6:


ingredients:



4 tbs olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

2 stalks of celery, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup parsley (or a palmful), roughly chopped

1 tbs fresh thyme or 1 dessertspoon of dried thyme

1 kg. chicken mince

200 mls of dry white wine

500 mls milk

250 mls chicken stock

zest of 3 lemons and juice of 2

500g. pasta of your choice - the original recipe says to use orecchiette, but I used Angel Hair 'cos I like it thin

200 mls cream

150g. baby spinach leaves

grated parmesan to serve



Method:



Put 3 tbs of the oil into a large saucepan over a medium-low heat

Tip the onions, carrot and celery into the heated oil and sauté for 12 minutes until soft but not brown

Add the garlic and parsley and sauté for another few minutes

Set the veg. mix aside while you grab a large frypan and add the other tbs of olive oil

Turn up the heat to medium high and cook the mince for 10 minutes till just browned

Pour in the white wine, bring to the boil and cook till the wine is mostly evaporated

Then add the milk, stock and lemon zest (not the juice)

Add the vegetable mix into the frypan too

Bring it to a low simmer and cook uncovered for about 1 hour, till most of the liquid is evaporated

Now cook up your pasta; I guess I don't need to tell you how to do that

Just before the pasta is ready, throw in the lemon juice, cream and spinach to the chicken and veg. mix

Let it heat thru for a few minutes

Serve the pasta topped with the sauce and strew as much parmesan as you like over your tasty plateful



Notes:


The original recipe says to tip the veggie mixture out of the pan and use the same pan to cook up the mince.  Great idea; less washing-up, but I felt it was just as easy to grab another pan

ingredients

I had some home-made chicken stock in the freezer, which had bits of chicken in it if you are wondering why it looks so chunky.

ingredients chopped and ready to fly

in goes the garlic

and in goes the parsley  

add the chicken mince to another pan

milk, chicken stock and lemon zest added   

simmer for an hour

add the lemon juice, cream and spinach near the end  

serve with grated parmesan   

my celery doodle