We’re all about creamy sauces, gratins and roasts at this time of the year. This is a great Friday night pasta dish by Nigel Slater with all the roast chicken flavour but quick to put together.
Wine suggestion: this really needs a full bodied white wine with texture. We naturally fall towards Chardonnay when thinking this, but the Languedoc one we had in the fridge we knew was easy drinking but not able to stand up to the food despite it being fuller bodied. Luckily we also had Vouvray made by Vincent and Tania Carême from our holidays earlier this year, and despite it being “tendre” or off-dry, it was a delight and an excellent match. The key was the texture even with the residual sugars left in the wine.
Roast chicken pasta – serves 4 generously
- 4 sprigs of rosemary, leaves stripped
- 8 black peppercorns
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 kg chicken thighs
- 300g fusilli or trofie pasta
- 7g tarragon, leaves stripped and chopped
- 10g parsley, leaves stripped and chopped
- zest of 1 lemon, grated
- 75g pine nuts, toasted
- 500ml double cream
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6.
Bash the rosemary, peppercorns and a tsp of sea salt in a pestle and mortar until you have a coarse powder, then blend in the olive oil.
Put the chicken thighs in a roasting tin, then pour over the rosemary mixture and rub to coat all over. Put into the oven and roast for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
Cook the pasta in plenty of salty water according to the timings on the pack.
Remove the chicken from the bones, keeping it in large chunks if you can and catching any meaty juices.
Mix the tarragon, parsley, lemon and toasted pine nuts together.
Put the roasting tin over a medium heat, add the cream to the tin and stir to scrape all the crusty bits off the tin. When the cream starts to bubble, add the cooked pasta and chicken. Season with black pepper.
Serve the pasta in bowls with the pine nut and herb mixture scattered over the top.
(Original recipe by Nigel Slater in The Guardian, Sunday 1st December 2019)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 
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