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Chicken, Pea and Cashew Pasta with Lime and Herbs

Wholewheat penne tossed with garlicky chicken, sweet peas, toasted cashews, lime and fresh herbs. A quick dinner with 44g of protein, ready in 25 minutes.

Dinner

25

Serves 2

A dark blue bowl of penne pasta with green peas, toasted cashews, fresh herbs and a wedge of lime, with a pair of chopsticks

Ingredients

  • 125g/4½oz wholewheat penne
  • 1 tsp salt, for the pasta water
  • 150g/5oz frozen peas
  • 1 tbsp (15ml) olive oil
  • 250g/9oz skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 30g/1oz unsalted cashews
  • 1 lime: zest of half, juice of the whole (about 2 tbsp/30ml), plus a wedge to serve if you like
  • A small bunch of coriander (cilantro) or flat-leaf parsley (about 15g/½oz), chopped
  • A pinch of black pepper

Method

  1. Boil 1.5 litres/6 cups of water in a kettle and pour it into a large saucepan with the salt; slice the chicken and chop the herbs while it boils. Bring back to the boil, add the penne and cook following the pack (usually 10 to 12 minutes). Add the peas for the last 2 minutes. Before draining, scoop out a mugful of the pasta water.
  2. Meanwhile, toast the cashews in a large dry frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, shaking the pan, until golden. Tip onto a board and roughly chop.
  3. Heat the oil in the same pan over a medium to high heat. Add the chicken with a pinch of pepper and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring now and then, until golden and cooked through with no pink meat (75°C on a probe thermometer, if you have one). Add the garlic for the last minute.
  4. Drain the pasta and peas and add them to the chicken pan with the lime zest and juice and 3 to 4 tbsp of the pasta water. Toss over a low heat for 1 minute, until glossy.
  5. Stir in most of the herbs, divide between two bowls and top with the cashews, the rest of the herbs and a lime wedge. Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to 2 days; reheat until steaming hot.

Why it works

A bowl gives you about 44g of protein and 10g of fibre for 576 calories, from the chicken, pasta, peas and cashews.

Why wholewheat penne. Wholewheat pasta has more fibre than white pasta, and frozen peas cooked in the same pan add more fibre and protein without another pan to wash.

Save the pasta water. A few spoonfuls of the starchy cooking water help the lime juice and oil cling to the pasta, so it is glossy rather than dry, with no cream needed.

Why it is tagged for blood sugar. With 52g of carbohydrate, inside our limit for the blood sugar tag, plenty of protein from the chicken and fibre from the wholewheat pasta and peas, this bowl is less likely to cause a sharp rise in blood sugar than a bowl of white pasta.

Contains wheat (gluten) and nuts (cashews). Free from dairy and eggs as written. For a vegetarian pasta, try the kale and walnut pesto pasta.