We grew a lot of basil in our small garden this year, so I decided to try a recipie from a long time ago. I had forgotten how good it is.
And its very simple to make.

Obviously, you need chicken. Any piece of the chicken that you like. Cut up, and boneless. I used those chicken tenders you can buy in the large bags. Three tenders per person is good, or if your a big guy probably 4.

You need potatoes. Red potatoes. Don't peel them. Cut them up into bite sized pieces like the chicken. Probably about 4 small red potatoes for each person.

And you need tomatoes. You can use plum tomatoes if you have them, or want to buy them
I used regular tomatoes from my small garden (they are finally starting to turn red). Again, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces. One large or a couple small per person, or a good handful or more of the small plum tomatoes.

Thats it for the main stuff.
Now for the PESTO.
You can buy it in the store. Its usually by the Italian stuff. Its not cheap.

Or, if you have a bunch of basil as I did, you can make your own, if you have a food processor (I used our cuisinart) or I suppose you could also use a mortar and pestal.

Probably at least a quarter cup of basil for each person. Not a loose quarter cup, but rather a densely packed quarter cup. Maybe even a little bit more if you have a bunch of it. You don't want to skimp of the good stuff.

A couple of big cloves of garlic.

About a half cup of good EV olive oil

Some Pine Nuts. They are not cheap either. But they are worth it. At least a couple of tablesppoons or maybe three tablesppons. if you don't want to use them, use some walnuts or some almonds.

Some grated Parmesan cheese. The good stuff, not the powdered stuff in the green can. I'd say about a quarter cup or more if you really like it. Its salty, so if you use a lot you need to cut down on the salt you add to the dish.

A few drops of fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Some sea salt (maybe a teaspoon or a bit more to taste) except if you use a lot of parmesan.

Some fresh ground black pepper (half teaspoon or to taste.

Grind it all up pretty good until its a paste.
(Resist the temptation to eat it right away. Its very good in its raw state.

Okay, take out a casserole dish, put all of the chicken, potatoes and tomatoes in it. Pour the pesto in there and mix the whole thing well. Put a cover on and throw it in the over at 375 degrees F or equivalent for about an hour. Remove the cover and let it go for about another 15 minutes or so. you want some liquid in the bottom so don't let it go too long.

Get plates. Place chicken pieces and potato pieces and tomoatoe pieces on plate. Slightly mash a couple of the potatoes and spoon a bit of the liquid sauce over them and the chicken.

Eat while hot.

A nice side dish, if you are still working in your garden, is a piece of corn on the cob, and if you have them, also a cukecumber salad (thin sliced cukes with a sauce made from a little vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, and store bought mayo.

All Good stuff.

Sonds interesting !I've never used pesto to cook things in. Normally it's added to pasta uncooked . The best basil comes from Genoa !

I noticed two errors/omissions: 1. The portions served are too sparse; anything this good needs a lot of eating. 2. The olive oil needs to be balanced with at least two glasses(large)of wine of choice during the meal. Repeat after me: more is better with the wine!

Ole Miss

Can't disagree with you there. Since I can't tell the difference between a $3 bottle of wine and a $100 bottle of wine I go to Trader Joes and buy that $3 wine they sell.

By the way, if you don't like a real intense basil taste another way to make the pesto is to use half basil and half spinach.

Just happened to see a cooking show with Lidia about Liguria [Genoa] .She made pesto and happened to mention that they never cook with pesto !!
So now you've started something !!

Mete

Try the recipie once and let me know what you think.

I LOVE pesto! I can eat it by the spoonful. I'm going to try you recipe real soon. Hows about adding shrooms to that?

Pesto was part of my normal diet as my family is from that area -until I became allergic to basil !
On pasta, gnocchi and a few other things it's great .Go to Genoa and try the best basil.