Chicken and Mushroom Pasta

For those of you who know me, you'll know that anything quick and easy to follow is the way I love to cook/bake. Whenever I open a cookery book or read a recipe with a list of instructions as long as my arm it makes me want to run for the hills, so here is my no nonsense pasta.

For each person you will need 1 chicken breast diced, a third of a packet of fresh pasta, 3 large field mushrooms washed and sliced, a sprig of thyme, a quarter of the zest of a lemon, a clove of garlic, a splash of white wine, 1-2 tbsp of double cream, some basil leaves, quarter of a ball of mozzarella, quarter of a spanish onion diced.

A few hours before you're ready to start cooking pop the diced chicken in a bowl with a splash of olive oil, the lemon zest, grate in the garlic cloves, and the leaves of the thyme, give a good mix round cover and leave to marinate.

Put on a large saucepan of salted boiling water, add the pasta, and cook as instructions. Drain.

In a heavy based saute pan heat a tbsp of oil and a knob of butter and saute the chopped onions, when they are translucent add the sliced mushrooms and cook until soft and well cooked, remove to a warmed plate with a slotted spoon.

Add a little more butter to the pan and add the chicken and all the oils, cook until the chicken is nearly cooked and add the mushrooms and onion back to the pan, Add the wine and reduce down until the wine has all but disappeared, followed by the cream and heat until reduced by half, add in the mozzarella and stir.

Toss the drained pasta into the sauce, scatter with ripped basil leaves and serve.