Chicken and Leek Pasta Bake

After all the Easter feasting, there are always the leftovers.  I love leftovers the offer up the chance to experiment and create something from the bits and pieces that lurk in the fridge.

We had chicken on Saturday and Lamb on Sunday and as our visitors  had to call off at the last minute, we have rather a lot of leftovers!  The lamb has been made into a Shepherd's Pie and a Lamb Curry but the chicken  needed to be used today, so I rifled through the fridge and found some leeks, spring onions, Dijon mustard and half fat creme fraiche.

Chicken and Leek Pasta (serves 4)

Meat stripped from 1 cooked chicken breast 

Meat stripped from 1 cooked chicken leg

2 leeks, cleaned and finely chopped

3 spring onions, finely chopped

300ml of half fat creme fraiche

a couple of handfuls of frozen peas

juice of half a lemon 

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp olive oil

6  nests of tagliatelle

salt and freshly ground pepper

grated Parmesan or Gran Padano cheese to taste

In a large frying pan or saute pan, heat the olive oil and gently cook the leeks and spring onions until soft.  Add the cooked chicken and heat through, add the frozen peas and set aside.  

Cook the tagliatelli in a pan of boiling water until just cooked. Drain, leaving a little of the cooking water in the pan and set aside.

Add the creme fraiche, mustard and seasoning to the leek and chicken mixture and season to taste.  

Mix the chicken mixture through the pasta and pile into an ovenproof dish, sprinkle over the grated cheese and put in an oven at 200C for about 10 minutes until brown and bubbling.