Grilled Chicken With Spinach and Pine Nut Pesto

Submitted by Charlotte J

"Saw this on Everyday Italian, it looks soooo good and easy to make. Recipe from Giada De Laurentiis"

 

• Ready In: 23mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 boneless chicken breasts
• 473.18 ml lightly packed baby spinach leaves (about 2 ounces)
• 59.14 ml pine nuts, toasted
• 29.58 ml fresh lemon juice
• 4.92-9.85 ml grated lemon peel
• 78.78 ml olive oil, plus
• 9.85 ml olive oil
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 78.78 ml freshly grated parmesan cheese

directions

1. Heat a grill pan on medium high heat.
2. Lightly oil the grill pan.
3. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
4. Grill the chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.
5. Combine the spinach, pine nuts, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a processor.
6. Lightly pulse.
7. With the machine running, gradually add 1/3 cup of the oil, blending until the mixture is creamy.
8. Add salt and pulse.
9. Put half of the pesto into ice cube trays and store in the freezer for future use.
10. Transfer the rest of the spinach mixture to a medium bowl.
11. Stir in the Parmesan.
12. Season the pesto with salt and pepper, to taste.
13. Spread the pesto over each piece of chicken and serve.

Reviews

[libbyahall]

I use this same recipe from Giada -- it is SO good. It is wonderful to freeze the spinach pesto and have for a super quick meal. Also, I LOVE putting this with some pasta as well. Very fresh and zesty!

 

[jrusk]

Delicious!!! I dusted my chicken with flour, s&p, then pan fried it. The pesto was heavenly. I did have to add a little chicken broth to get my blender going. My sauce was thinner but still a winner. I froze the left over sauce for a later date. Perfect quick and tasty meal for a weekday. It's in my rotation. Funny enough that my picture looks exactly like the one posted. I think we even served the same rice!!! Will post soon.

 

[aronsinvest]

This is a light refreshing dish. Thanks.

 

[CarolAT]

This recipe is a great way to serve grilled chicken. The pesto sauce was so easy to make and really dressed up the chicken, and made it very moist. I used the left over pesto sauce on panini sandwiches the next day. Wow, that was good too. Thanks for posting this recipe. Made for My 3 Chefs June 2008

 

[Mandy]

I was given a huge bag of spinach leaves from a grower & was looking for great ways to use them, this fit the bill. It's not quite hot enough for basil yet here so it was great to find a pesto recipe that doesn't use it. I love the tang the lemon gives the pesto, it's a nice touch with the chicken. I made extra pesto & froze it but have been using the fresh batch on sandwiches too. A keeper, thanks!