Leftover roast chicken Caesar pasta
Well this might just be the most delicious recipe on our site so far. But then again, almost any recipe which uses up leftover roast chicken is pretty great. This pasta dish boasts all the exquisite flavours and feels of a Caesar salad - it’s rich and creamy, slightly tangy, indulgent, moreish and packed with umami. Added to that it’s one of the most nourishing and comforting bowls of pasta we can imagine, and it’s particularly apt for this time of year.
Much like our Faster-than-your-fusilli beetroot pasta and this Broccoli and blue cheese pasta it’s a speedy recipe and much of the flavour work has been taken care of in advance thanks to your roast chicken. It would be remiss of us not to give a shout out here to one of our favourite Suffolk producers, Sutton Hoo. Their birds are slow-grown, truly free-range, and the flavour is unrivalled. They’re a pretty penny - rightly so - and thus when one does indulge in a roast chicken we believe it’s important to use every last bit of the bird right down to making stock. (Stock recipe incoming).
If you have leftover roast chicken in the future why not try our Zero-waste curry?
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
This recipe serves 2.
Ingredients:
8 walnut halves (or ~26g / ¼ cup broken walnuts)
1 small clove garlic, minced
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 anchovies
4 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
¼ cup water
1 tsp flakey sea salt
pasta sufficient for 2 people
100g curly kale
1 packed cup / ~100g chopped roast chicken
2-4 tbsp concentrated roasting juices or leftover gravy
black pepper
Parmesan, optional
Method:
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Once boiling, cook your chosen pasta as per the package’s instructions. We think a wholegrain fusilli works very well with this recipe.
Meanwhile, in a small jug blender or nutribullet whizz together all the ingredients for the walnut Caesar sauce: walnuts, minced garlic, apple cider vinegar, anchovies, cold-pressed rapeseed oil, ¼ cup of water and a generous pinch of sea salt. Blend until completely smooth and velvety.
Shred your kale into bite size pieces removing the tough central core if need be. Add this to the boiling water for the final 2 minutes of the pasta’s cooking time. Drain both together but keep hold of 1 cup of cooking water.
Pop your saucepan back on a medium heat and add the roasting juices or gravy and the shredded chicken to heat through. If you don’t have any to hand not to worry, simply add your chicken along with a few tablespoons of pasta water. Once your chicken is hot add your walnut Caesar dressing, stir well, then follow with the pasta and kale. Stir everything together over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes to heat through. Add a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water to achieve your desired consistency.
Enjoy in warmed bowls and top with parmesan if you like. In these photos we grated over some cured egg yolk which was knocking around in the fridge from a recent event - decadent and delightful!
