Green Noodles

My family calls it "chicken pesto pasta," but a family I nannied for called it "green noodles" and I think that's got a neat ring to it. In any event, I made it for dinner last night. If you buy pesto, it's incredibly easy. With canned chicken and jarred pesto, I made it in five minutes for my nanny family. This time I grew the basil from seed and made the whole thing from scratch, so it took a little longer -- though still not that long!

Amounts are approximate because you all know I hardly ever measure anything. (What can I say? I learned to cook mainly in apartments with no measuring spoons or cups -- sometimes in Europe anyway, where no one uses cups!)

Pesto:

1/2 cup fresh basil, packed down

1/4 cup parmesan or romano cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

1 garlic clove

3 tablespoons pine nuts (I left these out because I didn't have any)

Grind the parmesan, if it isn't already ground (mine was) and the pine nuts. Chop the basil finely (I used my new food processor that I got for my birthday. You could also do it by hand or in a blender, maybe?). Then blend (again with the food processor -- perhaps a whisk would do the trick) all ingredients except for half the oil. Add the rest of the oil in a slow stream.

Other option: open a jar of pesto.

Pasta:

1 shredded cooked chicken breast or thigh (I used a thigh, which I had cooked by simmering)

Pesto

1/2 box of your favorite pasta -- I used angel hair tonight and it was perfect!

1/2 cup of peas, if desired

Extra pine nuts, if desired

Mix together. Add parmesan cheese to taste. Serves 2, if one of them is me and I'm very hungry.

No picture because I ate it all. I even scraped out the bowl of the food processor. It was that good.