Homemade sauce is an excellent way to level up any dinner recipe, whether a meaty gravy poured over a roast dinner or a fresh hummus dip to accompany a Mediterranean traybake. For those who enjoy pasta, you can’t beat a fresh, creamy sauce to coat your favourite pasta shape.
Mary Berry has the ultimate recipe perfect for a quick midweek meal. Sharing a formula from her cookbook Mary Berry’s Foolproof Dinners, the esteemed British chef described it as: “A simple pasta dish with a creamy and delicious sauce.” This recipe calls for orzo, which are tiny pasta pearls that create a risotto-like texture, but you can substitute it for any kind of pasta; just take note of differences in cooking times.
Creamy chicken pasta recipe
Ingredients (serves 4-6 people)
- 275g/9¾oz orzo (or 50-70g alternative pasta variety per person)
- Two chicken breasts, skin removed and sliced into thin strips
- Two tbsp olive oil
- knob of butter
- One onion, finely chopped
- 250g/9oz chestnut button mushrooms, sliced
- 150ml/5fl oz white wine
- One garlic clove, grated
- 150g/5½oz baby spinach
- 150g/5½oz soured cream
- 55g/2oz Parmesan, finely grated
- One tbsp fresh lemon juice
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
One of the best things about this recipe is that most of the cooking can be done while the pasta cooks, so you don’t waste any time.
Mary suggests preparing everything in up to 30 minutes, but cooking can take as little as 10 minutes if you use orzo.
First, add the orzo (or other pasta) to a saucepan of boiling salted water and cook according to the packet instructions or until just tender.
Meanwhile, season the chicken well with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan with a lid over high heat.
Add the chicken and fry the meat off for a few minutes, turning occasionally, until golden brown all over and just cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Now melt the butter in the same pan used for the chicken, then follow with the onion and fry over high heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
Cover the pan with the lid and cook for 10 minutes until soft. Then remove the lid, add the mushrooms, and fry until the liquid evaporates.
Gently pour in the wine and cook until slightly reduced. Then, add the garlic, spinach, and soured cream and bring the pan to the boil.
Add the orzo, cooked chicken, parmesan and lemon juice to the pan to finish. Season with a generous helping of salt and pepper and toss together until warm, then serve in bowls.
