Recently I decided to start experimenting with different flavours in my cooking. I have joined a herb meeting on a Tuesday night and I have been inspired by our discussions. In this meeting we discuss lots of different herbs every week. A few weeks ago one of the herbs we talked about was lemon balm. It’s an amazing herb that has many health benefits. Although it should only be eaten in moderation.
The reason I love this herb is it can give sauces, stews, soups plus lots more an extra lemony flavour. Therefore I thought I would try it with chicken and a tomato sauce. The lemon balm definitely gave this dish a lot of lemony flavour that we all enjoyed. It added a lot of flavour to the chicken as well. I know it should only be eaten occasionally but I just can’t get enough of this herb. We loved this dish and we hope you will too.
Do you enjoy cooking with herbs and if so which ones are your favourites? Let me know in the comments below and please don’t forget to like and follow me.
Equipment
- Sharp knife
- Chopping board
- Saucepans x 2
- Stirring spoon
- Blender
- Slow cooker or oven
Ingredients
- Chicken thighs x 500g
- Onion x 1
- Carrot x large
- Courgette x 1 large
- Tomatoes x 2 400g tins
- Lemon balm x 1 handful
- Pasta x 300g
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Put the chicken thigh meat in the slow cooker and cook for 3 – 4 hours on high and 5 – 6 hours on low.
- If using the oven preheat the oven to 180°C or gas mark 4.
- Once the oven has heated place the thighs onto a pre greased baking tray.
- Put the thighs into the oven and cook for about 25 – 30 minutes or until the juices run clear.
- To check the chicken put a skewer in the thigh and let the juices run out.
- If they are clear the chicken is cooked so remove it.
- However if they are not clear then put the chicken back into the oven for another 5 minutes until the juice run clear.
- When the chicken in cooked remove from the oven and leave to sit for 10 minutes or longer.
- Remove the chicken from the baking tray on to a plate or carving board and set to one side.
- This is the same with the slow cooker too.
- Peel the courgette and grate it.
- Next peel, slice and dice the onion.
- Now put the large saucepan onto a high heat and add oil to the base of the pan.
- When the pan is hot add the onion and fry until the start to soften.
- Next add in the courgette and fry until these start to soften too.
- It should take around 5 minutes to soften these vegetables down.
- If the ingredients start to stick, turn the heat down and add a little bit of water.
- Then continue to fry these ingredients for another 5 – 10 minutes.
- Once the ingredients are really soft pour over the tomatoes and chicken stock.
- Add in the tomato puree and tamari too.
- Bring these ingredients to the boil then leave to simmer.
- Now add in the lemon balm.
- Leave to simmer to reduce the sauce until it becomes slightly jammie.
- Remove from the heat and pour the sauce into the blend.
- Blend until smooth and pour back into the pan.
- Put onto a low heat to keep in warm
- Shred the chicken with two forks and discard of the bones.
- Place the chicken in the sauce and remove it from the heat.
- Cook the pasta as per the packet instructions.
- Once the pasta is cooked add it to the sauce and mix round with the stirring spoon.
- Then serve and enjoy.
Lemon Balm Chicken Pasta was delicious and my little family really enjoyed this dish. Although it was slightly time consuming the efforts were worth the results. All the ingredients in the sauce were freezable so the sauce could be made in advance of a meal. Then it could frozen and defrost it when needed. It’s definitely a dish we will be eating again soon. However you decide to eat this dish, as always, please enjoy. Thank you
Googies Kitchen Life 