If you’re left with a container full of last night’s chicken, you might be on the hunt for a great recipe to stretch it into a meal.
Perhaps you’re tempted by Mary Berry’s chicken lasagne recipe or want something speedy and easy.
But for what it’s worth, my vote goes to The Chiappa Sisters’ seasonal leek and pea pasta bake ― not least because it doesn’t really matter how much leftover chicken you’ve got left.
What’s involved?
The one-hour bake, shared on Jamie Oliver’s site, calls for leeks, chicken stock, wine, frozen peas, ricotta, milk, Parm, garlic, pasta, oil, and butter.
What I like about it is its almost-too-forgiving attitude towards substitutions and measurements: ricotta can be cream cheese or (gasp) cottage cheese, leeks can be spring onions or celery leaves (strip them of their stalks first), and wine can be switched out for a dash of cider vinegar or stock.
There’s no reason you can’t sub out some missing chicken for bulky butterbeans or just leave the meat on the lower side ― and the same goes for slightly overloading the pasta dish with poultry, too.
The recipe involves frying off the veg, cooking pasta, and combining the lot with cheese before baking in the oven for about 25 minutes. The recipe, deemed “super easy” by Jamie Oliver’s site, serves six and is great “for the whole family to enjoy.”
Anything else?
Yep! According to a Whisk.com-generated price estimate using Tesco products, the cost per serving comes to £1.32 a person.
Of course, costs may differ depending on where you shop and how much you;re buying.
Nonetheless, if you’ve got a load of chicken to use up, you’ll be able to save a good chunk of that change by default.
You can read the recipe in full online here.