How to make Pesto Pasta with barbecued chicken, Firdy’s Hentam Style.

If i have a big house of my own, i’d probably grow some fancy plants and cute chubby animals, call them beautiful names, and then cultivate and slaughter them with my own two hands.

But sadly, no, i live in a tall building and i cook with red wine, loud jazz music and dancing like a maniac, which is worse i think. Sipping red wine while dancing like a maniac could actually set a bad example, if one were to follow exactly, the way i cook.

And yes, i suck at cooking, and although i do dream of growing all kinds of plants and all kinds of herbs, (and still suck at cooking), i actually grow my own basil.

2 types of Basil actually, the sweet basil and the cinnamon basil.

Basil is the main ingredient in making pesto (Pesto is a delicious sauce, usually used on pasta). To make Firdy’s Hentam pesto, other than using young basil leaves, you’ll be needing :

• 2 types of cheese, hard and soft. I use Parmesan and Gorgonzola.
• About 2 1/2 cloves of smoked garlic.
• A small handful of pine nuts.
• A generous splash of extra virgin olive oil.
• Strictly no salt.

The saltiness of pesto should come from the cheese, not from additional salt.

But i don’t want to go about making the pesto yet, because i love my pesto pasta with grilled chicken. And since i don’t have a grill, i use an electric oven (given by Su Ann darling, love you so much!) to make barbecued chicken.

So, to make Firdy’s Hentam oven barbecued chicken, you’ll be needing :

• Chicken breast.
• About 3 cloves of smoked garlic.
• For seasoning, i use nutmeg, oregano, paprika, black pepper and salt.
• About half a lemon.
• Brown sugar.
• A generous splash of extra virgin olive oil.
• Cherry tomatoes.

First, the chicken breast. Cut it into a fillet, put it into the baking pan, chop some garlic, mix the garlic with the fillet, together with the seasoning and lemon juice and sugar and olive oil, and let it rest for about 15 minutes. While doing this, set the oven at 220° C.

When the oven is ready, cook the chicken fillet for about 25 minutes. Put uncut cherry tomatoes into the oven in the final 15 minutes.

Now, the pesto. You’ll be needing a mezzaluna (i use a double bladed mezzaluna) for this. Chop the garlic and put some of the basil leaves. Scrape and chop and add more basil. Scrape and chop and add pine nuts, chop and scrape and add more basil. The idea of doing this is to get a chun definition between ingredients, a wonderful spectrum of cut sizes that brings crazy happiness and surprises; new flavors burst in your mouth, as bright as the birth of a new star.

Hand chop, my dear, hand chop it for the love of good pesto.

Then add Parmesan and Gorgonzola into the mixture, add more basil and pine nuts, and chop some more, until the mixture doesn’t stick to your blade (that’s the cue actually, when you first start chopping, everything sticks onto the blade, but they don’t when they are finely chopped).

Transfer it into a small bowl, and give it a good splash of extra virgin olive oil.

When the barbecued chicken is ready, enjoy the pesto with cooked pasta.

You wont be using all the pesto, u can save some in the fridge.

Happy cooking! (and Happy Chinese New Year too!)

I finish everything within 3 minutes because it was too fooking delicious.