Creamy chicken and Parmesan tagliatelle
For the nights when twenty minutes is what you have
Halves cleanly for one. Doubling needs a wider pan so the sauce reduces at the same rate.
Some nights the only realistic plan is pasta, and this is the version to reach for when chicken needs to feel like more than a garnish. Strips of chicken breast cooked quickly in butter, a good measure of cream, a generous amount of Parmesan melted in off the heat, all tossed through tagliatelle that has had its full extra minute past the packet time. No garlic crisped and scattered over the top, no parsley, nothing that adds texture rather than flavour. The sauce comes together in the time the pasta takes to cook, so nothing stands about waiting. Keep the ingredients in the house on a difficult week and dinner is never further away than a pan of boiling water.
Ingredients
Contains: Gluten, Milk
- 180 gtagliatelle, white, not wholewheat
- 25 gunsalted butter
- 300 gchicken breast, cut into thin strips
- 200 mldouble cream
- 50 gParmesan, finely grated
- salt
- 1 pinchfinely ground white pepper — optional
Method
Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil and cook the tagliatelle for a minute longer than the packet says, until fully tender. Scoop out a mugful of the cooking water before you drain it.
While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a wide frying pan over a medium heat. Add the chicken strips, season with salt, and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, turning often, until golden all over and cooked through with no pink left.
Turn the heat down to low, pour in the cream, and let it come to a gentle simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in the Parmesan and the white pepper, if using, until the sauce is smooth and coats the back of a spoon.
Drain the pasta and tip it into the pan with the sauce. Toss well, adding a splash of the reserved water if it looks tight, until every strand is coated.
Divide between two warm bowls and eat straight away.
Watch-points
- Use white tagliatelle, not a wholewheat or spelt version.
- Cook the pasta a full minute past the packet time, until there is no bite left at the centre.
- No black pepper in visible grinds. A small pinch of finely ground white pepper at most, or none.
Some hospitals allow a pinch of ground pepper; the leaflet this book follows does not. Leave it out if you have been told to.
Stoma note: White pasta firms up loose output and the cream slows things further. Start with a smaller bowl if output has been unpredictable.
Make it more nourishing
- Use 250 ml of cream instead of 200 for a looser, richer sauce.
- Stir in an extra 20 g of Parmesan with the cream.
- Add a tablespoon of skimmed milk powder to the cream as it warms. You will not taste it.
Swaps
- Instead of chicken breast, use chicken thigh fillets, skin removed
- stays juicier if it sits in the pan a minute or two longer than planned
- Instead of double cream, use crème fraîche
- a little sharper, and less likely to split if the heat creeps up