Creamy spinach, basil & chicken pasta

Roast a chicken, then transform it into this speedy weeknight pasta dish with the help of spinach, basil, garlic and crème fraîche

Ingredients

• 300 g long pasta (we used mafaldine)
• 2 tbsp leftover chicken fat (from the roast chicken recipe, below)
• 1 onion , finely chopped
• 1 red chilli , finely chopped, or 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 4 leftover roasted garlic cloves , mashed
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 200 ml white wine
• 300 g spinach
• 200 g-300g leftover chicken shredded (from the roast chicken recipe, below)
• 0.5 lemon , juiced
• small handful of basil , leaves chopped into fine ribbons
• 200 g crème fraîche

Steps

1. Cook the pasta following pack instructions and reserve a mugful of the cooking water. Heat the leftover chicken fat in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and cook for 8-10 mins until softened. Mix in the chilli, garlic and tomato purée, then cook for a further 5 mins until the purée has caramelised. Pour in the wine and simmer for 2-3 mins until almost completely reduced.
2. Mix in the spinach and leftover chicken along with a splash of the reserved cooking water. Cook for 3-4 mins until the chicken is heated through, then squeeze in some lemon juice, and add most of the basil, the crème fraîche and cooked pasta. Mix in a splash of cooking liquid to bring it all together, then season to taste, adding more lemon juice if needed. Scatter over the remaining basil to serve.