Pesto Chicken and Roasted Vegetables

I took my son to soccer practice at 7:30, then went to work for about 12 hours with no time to stop for lunch or a tea break. Driving home, I was in the mood for some satisfying home-cooked family food but I wanted to be on my butt wearing my elasticated pants as soon as possible. I threw this thing together, with very little forward planning, but it turned out to be a perfectly good after work meal. It only took about 30mins to make and was very healthy and satisfying.

First, I started the roasted vegetables. I preheated the oven to 425F. I sliced two leeks, a punnet of button mushrooms and chopped the florets of two broccoli. I spread the vegetables out onto two oven proof trays. I drizzled with olive oil and generous helpings of salt and pepper. I put them in the oven and set the timer for 20mins. You can tell they're cooked when they're sizzling.

To make the pesto chicken, I warmed some olive oil in a pan to a medium-high heat. I sliced two large chicken breasts into small pieces and put them in a bowl with about 1/3 of a pot of pesto and stirred it all together until the chicken was coated. When the oil was hot, I fried the chicken breast slices for about 3-4 minutes on each side, so that they were golden on the outside and still juicy on the inside. I did this in two batches, keeping the pan very hot throughout.

I served with tomato and spinach cous cous and a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan. The cous cous was a little dry and as none of the food was particularly wet, some might say that it's a pretty dry meal. That didn't bother me or my family too much, but I might try to think of something other than cous cous to serve it with -next time.

I enjoy roasted vegetables more than most. I think they're delicious, especially the leeks. By the end I was bursting full and still trying to shovel the last remaining veggies into my face. The pesto chicken was also very flavorsome and juicy. It;s not a show stopper, but it was a very nice meal for a week night.

Flopping on the sofa, with a belly full of healthy home-cooked food after a busy day is very satisfying. A rare guilt-free moment where you don't worry that you shouldn't have eaten that, or should be doing something more productive right now. You just get to sit, and have a beer and feel satisfied. Good times.