Roast Chicken Aglio e Olio

What better way to use up leftover roast chicken than tossing it in garlic, oil and linguine?

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I have completed my first term at cookery school (yay) and one of the many perks of the Easter break’s arrival is that I can get back to creating and sharing my own recipes. I am studying classical french cuisine which despite being wonderful for refining ones techniques and coating everything in a block of butter (the key to deliciousness) it does make me long for my first foodie love: pasta.

Aglio e olio is a traditional Italian pasta dish, originating from Naples, that has never taken off in England the way that so many of its counterparts have: Carbonara, Bolognese, Lasagna to name a few. I suspect that this is due to olive oil getting top billing as one of the main ingredients and the British food industry touting low fat diets as the key to good health. We have been remiss by excluding it from our tables however! It is utterly scrumptious and can be whipped up using ingredients that are already sat in your store cupboard – the perfect weekday supper. This dish is also an easy way to use up leftovers and cut down on food waste; stirring in shredded meat from your Sunday roast brings in a new depth of flavour and texture.

N.B. It is also worth noting that olive oil is one of those elusive “healthy fats” so do not be alarmed by the four tablespoons of it in my recipe.

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Serves 2

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 – 4 garlic cloves, peeled and very finely sliced
  • 2 tsp chili flakes
  • 200g linguine or spaghetti
  • 20 g parsley, very finely chopped
  • 30g Parmesan
  • roughly 200g cooked chicken, torn into small strips
  • salt and pepper

Method

  1. Cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions in a large saucepan of salted water.
  2. Pour the olive oil into a medium frying pan, add the garlic and chili and turn the heat onto medium high. Heating the garlic at the same time as the oil can help to avoid it burning and infuse the oil. This should be cooking for 5 – 7 minutes until the garlic has gone golden. Fry the chicken in the oil for 1 minute.
  3. Reserve about 100 ml of pasta water and then drain the pasta. Stir the pasta into the oil alongside the parsley and Parmesan. Add the pasta water to the pan if the sauce needs loosening up a little so that the pasta is evenly coated in a delicious Parmesan- oil emulsion.
  4. Serve with a little extra parsley and Parmesan.

Thank you so much for reading this post, I hope that you enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think in the comments as I love hearing from you and do not forget to follow me on Instagram, Facebook and and Pinterest (my username is wishtodish) plus subscribe on here to see more recipes and foodie musings from me.

19 thoughts on “Roast Chicken Aglio e Olio”

  13. Elena Loto says:
    Reply

    ok, I would not combine garlic with parmesan, but cooking is often a matter of one’s taste, so I like the idea, anyway. And you are very right when saying that oil is a healthy fat. The problem, in many places outside Italy, is that good olive oil is hard to find and often expensive. Being italian I cook almost nothing without oil 😀

    Liked by 1 person

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