I tried making courgetti Bolognaise for the first time a few months ago and it changed my life forever (overstatement) I eat pasta like 40-50 times a week, it's my favourite thing in the world, I love everything about it. Sadly it doesn't love me or my enormous bloated carb belly. When I realised there was a healthier alternative that didn't taste like crap, a whole new world opened up to me...OH THE POSSIBILITIES! Subsequently my consumption of Parmesan has risen ten-fold, thus nulling any potential health improvements but there we go, that's my special skill, taking something healthy and making it worse for you than a double cheese and lard sandwich.
This little creation, I knocked up on a school-night for a bit of mid-week veg. It's by no means low fat, but it's low carb and stuffed full of Mediterranean nutrients. Ah, La Dolce Vita!
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (or however many you need obvs)
A packet of Parma or Serrano ham (Serrano is marginally less fatty and a little easier to manipulate)
A punnet of baby plum tomatoes. I chose Piccolos as they are very sweet and fresh.
A bag of courgetti (Sainsburys does it ready made) or a spiraliser and a couple courgettes.
Some black olives
Sun-dried tomato paste
Parma Reggiano (preferable a fresh block, but grated will do)
A decent blob of mozzarella. Buffalo really is the best for flavour but I will be honest, I just used the little pearls of cow's milk for ease of stuffing!
Some Herbs du Province or Oregano or something like that. Go mad.
Pesto:
Get a jar if you can't be bothered making your own, but make it a good one, the courgettes will need a decent seasoning.
My method of fresh pesto making, which always turns out delicious is thus:
Bag of pine nuts (£££)
Big bunch of fresh basil
Goooooood chunk of decent Parmesan
3 cloves of garlic
slug of olive oil
I basically just whack them in the processor bit by bit till I get the consistency I like. Salt and a cheeky bit of lemon to taste.
Pre-heat your oven to about gas mark 6.
Pop the tomatoes in a dish, season with herbs and a slug of olive oil and stick it on the top shelf of the oven.
Get a sharp knife and make a pocket in the middle of the chicken breasts, stuff with about a teaspoon of the paste and enough mozzarella to plump it up but so it can still be sealed. Wrap with the ham.
Place in an oven dish and place on top shelf, removing the tomatoes.
Shave or grate a delicate covering of Parmesan on top and replace tomatoes in oven. (You can speed the tomatoes up at this point if you have a decent grill, unlike me)
Should really set a timer for about 25 mins.
Here comes my best friend again, the kitchen probe! When the chicken is nearly temp, whack your courgetti in the micro (about 3 minutes I think, whatever it said on the bag)
If you're amazingly patient and/or don't live near a Sainsbury's and don't have a spiraliser, you could cut the courgette very very finely, in this case I would steam it for a little longer as I suspect you just don't have the skillz to get it as thin as it would be normally and even if you did, you probably don't have any fingers left and you should probably go to hospital immediately.
Squeeze the courgetti like your life depends on it (not too much actually or it will turn into mash, but enough to get the majority of moisture out)
Mix with the pesto and sprinkle with olives.Plate it all up and let it go cold whilst you get the perfect angle for Instagram.
I couldn't resist a bit of garlic bread with it. So I also ruined the low-carb element too.
This is why I don't fit any of my clothes and builders don't notice me anymore.
As ever, there are loads of ways you could play around with this, swap the mozzarella for goat's cheese for a stronger hit, swap the chicken for some cod. Go sick.
xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment