As I savour the last bite of my Pesto Chicken Quesadilla with its melted cheese oozing around white chicken breast pieces, I look back at an inspired menu where the leftovers played the starring role.

After Sunday’s lamb roast I could not face red meat again on Monday.  There is something about lamb that even though delicious at the time of consumption has a lingering fatty richness that can put me off eating red meat again too soon.

“So still needing to satisfy my carnivore cravings it was chicken that ticked all the boxes.”

I bought two large chicken breasts and asked my butcher to slice them into thin fillets as I was planning on coating them in breadcrumbs and frying them.  There is nothing more rapturous than a pile of golden crisp gallina empanada (scalloped chicken) dipped in mayonnaise or dare I say it again – Chilli jam!  But I digress…

…So with 0.5Kg of chicken fillets (way too much for one meal) I decided to alternatively make my own pesto sauce and have Italian-influenced pesto chicken.

Pesto Chicken

Into a food processor add toasted pine nuts, the juice and zest of a lemon, a chunk of parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, basil leaves and olive oil.  Blitz until you form a smooth paste.  Alternatively use a jar of shop bought pesto!

Place the chicken fillets into an oven dish and pour the pesto over.  Cook in an oven until cooked through and golden.

Monday dinner – Pesto Chicken with potatoes and vegetables.

Tuesday lunch – leftover Pesto Chicken with cauliflower and green beens.

Wednesday lunch – leftover Pesto Chicken wrap

Thursday dinner – leftover Pesto Chicken Quesadillas

Quesadillas

1st: Place a flour tortilla in a dry frying pan.

2nd: Add grated cheese to cover the tortilla.

3rd: Chop the leftover, cooked chicken breasts and add spread over the tortilla.

4th: Just because I had in the cupboard, I also added piquillo peppers before placing the tortilla lid and turning the quesadilla over.

Please excuse the globe trotting  from Italy to Mexico but I couldn’t resist it

Andele! Andele! Arriba! Arriba! Epa! Epa! Epa! Yeehaw!

Enjoy