Chicken with Spinach Pesto

Last night, we tried out a Giada DeLaurentiis recipe for Chicken with Spinach and Pine Nut Pesto. I've had it on my list of recipes to try forever and can't believe it took me so long to make. It is such an easy recipe. It comes together so fast and it'd be a great work-night meal. I absolutely loved it! I've never had spinach pesto, and I really liked it. Kevin didn't care for the pesto at all. We ended up just having some whole wheat angel hair pasta with it, so Kevin ate his chicken and pasta plain, while I had pesto on both my chicken and my pasta. So yummy! I had plenty leftover to freeze in cubes, too. So it'll be an even quicker work-night meal in the future. The spinach, garlic, and pasta were the only organic ingredients.


Grilled Chicken with Spinach and Pine Nut Pesto

2 boneless chicken breasts (I used tenderloins and grilled up a ton of them to have for this meal, plus two others during the week)
2 cups lightly packed baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan (I don't think I used this much)
(I also added two small cloves of garlic)

Heat a grill pan on medium high heat. Lightly oil the grill pan. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Grill the chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.

Combine the spinach, pine nuts, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a processor. Lightly pulse. With the machine running, gradually add 1/3 cup of the oil, blending until the mixture is creamy. Add salt and pulse. Put half of the pesto into ice cube trays and store in the freezer for future use.

Transfer the rest of the spinach mixture to a medium bowl. Stir in the Parmesan. Season the pesto with salt and pepper, to taste.

Spread the pesto over each piece of chicken and serve.