Quick Chicken With Creamy Bacon and Pasta

Ingredients

Directions

1. 1

   Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add in the pasta and cook until al dente.

2. 2

   Drain the pasta of nearly all its cooking water, reserving around 150ml in the pan. Mix in the garlic, mascarpone cheese and cream. Add in the mozzarella and a squeeze of lemon juice, season with freshly ground pepper and grated nutmeg. Cover and keep warm.

3. 3

   Meanwhile, heat a griddle pan on the stove and lay streaky bacon rashers along the edge of the pan to cook, removing the bacon once it is cooked and keeping warm.

4. 4

   Place a chicken breast fillet between two strips of film and, using a cook's mallet or rolling pin, bat out the chicken until 1 cm thick. Remove the film and rub the chicken fillet with the uncrushed garlic clove half. Repeat with the remaining chicken fillets.

5. 5

   Brush the flattened fillets with a little olive oil, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and place on the hot griddle pan.

6. 6

   Turn the chicken over after 2-3 minutes and cook on the other side for a further 2-3 minutes until cooked through. Slice the griddled chicken into pieces.

7. 7

   Roughly chop the cooked bacon. Mix the bacon and chives into the pasta mixture. Taste to check the seasoning and adjust as required.

8. 8

   Place the pasta mixture in a warm serving bowl. Top with the sliced chicken, add a squeeze of lemon juice, drizzle with olive oil and serve.