Vanessa's Very Easy Pesto Chicken

This really is the easiest recipe ever and great if you are having friends over for supper after work. I can get home and have supper served up and ready to go in half an hour. My mum uses it for dinner parties if she is short of time as very little prep time and only 20 minutes cooking time!

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 4 chicken breasts (preferably with skin on which can be removed later, it just means the meat stays moist)
• 1 pot of red pesto
• 1 small pot of crème fraiche (low fat one works best)
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• Basil leaves and black olives to garnish
• 1 pan, preferably a largish frying pan with a lid (very important) but a casserole pot with a lid works too, as long as it can go on the hob

Brown the chicken breasts in bit of oil or butter, skin side first. You aren’t cooking the chicken, just browning it for colour. Set aside on a plate and wipe the pan with kitchen towel to get rid of any excess fat.

In a separate bowl, mix together the red pesto, creme fraiche and chopped tomatoes. No need to season.

Put the chicken breasts back in the pan, skin side up, and pour in the sauce mixture. Put the lid on and leave on the hob, on a gentle simmering heat (so you can just see little bubbles popping on the surface, but not fast rapid bubbles, as then it will boil into nothing!)

Leave like this for 20 minutes. If you are worried the chicken will stick to the pan, then have a check half way through cooking, but it really shouldn’t.

It really does take 20 minutes for the chicken to cook, as long as you leave it simmering and keep the lid on. Garnish with basil leaves and black olives and best served with new potatoes and green veg.