Warning: Extreme Garlic!

I love garlic. It’s so yummy and so versatile. It’s used in every cuisine from Greek to Indian, from Italian to Chinese.

I don’t care how much it makes me smell, it’s lush.

This recipe was inspired by my friend Alex from my local Crookes Slimming World group, who once gave me a very garlicky pasta recipe at my very first Slimming World taster session. This is my slightly more meaty attempt to beat her version 😉

Very Garlicky Pasta

Serves 3

4.5 Syns per portion

Ingredients

• 1 bulb garlic
• Frylight (use the roasted garlic one for even more garlicky!)
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 250g wholewheat spagetti
• 2 large chicken breasts
• 1 pack smoked bacon medallions, cut into thin strips
• 1 pack chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 1 bunch spring onions, finely sliced
• 60g grated parmesan
• 1 tsp Lurpak with garlic (optional)
• 1 tsp dried basil
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
2. Put two large saucepans of salted water on to boil, adding the stock cube to one of them
3. Spray a sheet of foil with Frylight
4. Break the bulb of garlic into cloves, discard as much of the papery outer layer as possible and chop off the very tip of each clove with a sharp knife
5. Rub the exposed ends of the garlic cloves into the Frylight on the foil and then place them in the centre of the foil
6. Spray again with Frylight then gather up the edges of foil around the garlic cloves to form a small pouch and fold over the top
7. Place the foil pouch on a baking tray and bake the garlic for approx. 40 minutes
8. Meanwhile, place the chicken breasts into the pan with the stock. Bring to the boil for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and cover, allowing the chicken to poach for the next 30 minutes
9. Add the spagetti to the other pan of boiling water, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. The spagetti is cooked with you can throw a strand at the wall and it sticks! (don’t blame me for the mess – my mother taught me that one)
10. Spray a large frying pan with Frylight and fry off the mushrooms and bacon
11. Reduce the heat to its lowest setting and add the spring onions and Lurpak with garlic (if using)
12. Once cooked, drain the chicken breasts and shred with two forks
13. Add the shredded chicken to the mushroom and bacon mixture and mix well
14. Remove the cooked garlic cloves from their skins and mix into a paste with plenty of salt, tasting as you go
15. Add the garlic paste to the pan along with the basil
16. Using a spagetti spoon, spoon the spagetti into the pan, adding some of the cooking water from the pasta as well to loosen everything
17. Finally add the parmesan and toss everything together until the garlic is well dispersed and the parmesan fully melted – the pasta should look glossy as a result, if needed, add a little more of the pasta water
18. Season with salt and pepper and serve with your preferred speed food

N.B. Please don’t blame me if your family/colleagues/friends/other half disowns you as a result of eating this recipe!

By the way, in case any of you were wondering why so many of my recipes are made for three people (rather than two or four as most recipes are) the reason for this is two-fold:

1. My husband and I generally have quite big appetites, so it’s not unusual for me to decide a recipe for four people is actually more like three portions to us – especially if it’s free food and eating more of it isn’t going to adversely affect my Syns for the day
2. Leftovers! Why resist the opportunity to make lunch for the next day? I’m a big fan of making extra portions when I cook to save me having to worry about buying lunch in town (and therefore struggling to resist lots of temptation), or for those evenings (like Wednesday’s when I go to my local Slimming World group) where I know I’m not going to have time to cook

Makes sense to me! So now you know 🙂