what (if anything) to seve with pasta and pesto (with chicken in)

[nannyL]

Have got a lovely pesto recipie (that my nanny friends makes) and LOADS of basil so when my girly friends come for dinner on Friday I was going to do chicken pasta and pesto

the thing is what (if anything) do i serve with it? (they are all super cooks and always produce especially nice food when its their turn to cook!)

all ideas welcome

(I assume t would be wierd to serve sald with hot pasta?)

what about garlic bread?

Wine.

I often do a tomato salad with pasta and pesto or green salad with lasagne.
Nothing weird about salad with a hot pasta IMO.

I'd do a really garlicky garlic bread with posh bread/ciabatta and a tomato salad to countercat the greenery of the pesto - maybe with slices of mozzarella (but could be too heavy with the cheese as well seeing as you've already got protein with the chicken, depends how greedy you all are!)

countercat?? !

yummmm tomatoe salad sounds yummy (any good tried and tested recipes?)

and garlicy ciabatta sounds yummy too

(How had i not even thought about tomatoes?)

I would just slice some really tasty on the vine tomatoes and lay in a dish, grind or sprinkle sea salt over them, drizzle (drizzle how poncey, but anyway...) some balsamic vinegar over them, add freshly ground black pepper as well if you fancy, and if you want tear some basil leaves and sprinkle in as well. You can also drizzle a little bit of virgin olive oil over it as well, but I don't always do this.

Prepare up to a couple of hours before serving and keep in fridge so it marinates.

That's exactly what I do Moomin. Mmmmm.

or you could do roasted veg - or just roasted courgette. Easy and no fuss.

In Italy we don't serve garlic bread with pasta. Or salad. Imo it's much nicer to serve a few different bits to eat before the pasta with a bit of ciabatta bread or focaccia or breadsticks. Try sundried tomatoes, artichokes in olive oil, grilled aubergine and/or grilled courgette, parma ham and mozzarellla parcels, and put a salame on a chopping board with a knife so people help themselves to it.

I know Seashell but we are uncouth heathens

My friend does a lovely tomatoe, red onion, and motzarella salad with pesto.

Also the chicken dish would be great with mushrooms and pine nuts.

But seashell - italians don't have spag bol either!

more pasta pesto

ilovemydog, of course we do have spag bolognese, the difference is we make it from scratch! (smug emoticon). But we don't have "alfredo" sauce; it's an american invention.
We also never have chicken in pasta sauce, btw bit I kind of have got used to it now and I don't mind but my mother would find it very weird indeed.

Oooh seashell - I make mine from scratch!

Yup, me and Loyd Grossman

very interesting seashell. I also make what I call spaghetti bolognese from scratch but am not sure how closely it resembles the real thing. And also interesting about the no garlic bread/salad with pasta.

I always make my food from scratch . Don't use ready made sauces (apart from pesto occasionally and once in a blue moon will let dh loose with the lloyd grossman). Tastes much better when you can make it yourself and change the taste as you go along.

I have never not made spag bol from scratch...

unless you mean making the spaghetti? (I have never made spaghetti from scratch)

moomin you tomatoe salad sounds PERFECT so we will be having that. yummmmmmmmm

thanks everyone

Just to update we all enjoyed

pasta with my homemade peso and chicken

served with vine tomatoe (big ones and cherry ones) salad (spinkled with salt and pepper and drizzled with balsamic vinegar and oilive oil and left in frodge for 2 hours to marinade)

and very garlic baguettes

thanks everyone