Chicken Pesto Pita Pizza

Credit: Catherine Roscoe Barr

Maison Le Grand’s fresh garden pesto is packed with the antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory power of basil and garlic

Lazy gets gourmet with ready-made pesto, parmesan cheese, tender strips of chicken and sautéed onions on a whole wheat pita – a lightning-fast and healthy dinner to prepare tonight

When I’m feeling lazy beyond belief, pita pizzas are one of my go-to dinners. I just take whatever I have on hand, pile it on a whole wheat pita and pop it in the oven for 10 minutes. It’s ridiculously easy.

The other night, I was up to my eyeballs in work and fighting a nasty bug so I knew I needed something healthy but quick to prepare. I had chicken breasts and whole wheat pitas in the freezer, pesto and parmesan cheese in the fridge, and onions in the cupboard – chicken pesto pita pizza was born!

It was so good and I felt so clever for preparing us a quick and healthy meal that I kept prompting my husband to tell me how much he enjoyed his pizzas. He grew tired of that game quickly but I persisted.

I had a few of Maison Le Grand’s delicious pestos, made fresh from scratch every week, in my fridge and picked the garden pesto, with basil, parsley, lemon, garlic and sea salt, for our pizzas.

Basil and garlic have antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, so using the pesto for my pizza sauce was not only incredibly tasty but healthy too.

The pesto pita pizzas were such a hit I’m going to try some new combinations tonight: a vegetarian version with thinly sliced zucchini and the four nuts and cheese pesto, and a seafood version with shrimp and the sun-dried tomato pesto. Yum!

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
• 1/4 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 4 whole wheat pitas
• 1/2 cup Maison Le Grand garden pesto
• 3 tbsp parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. In large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat.
3. Cook onions until translucent, about 3 minutes, and remove to bowl.
4. Add chicken to frying pan and cook until no longer pink in the middle, about 4 minutes.
5. In medium bowl, combine pesto and cheese.
6. Place pitas on large baking sheet and top with pesto mixture, chicken and onions.
7. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until pesto mixture begins to bubble, and then broil for 1 minute, or until onions begin to brown. Watch carefully, I left mine in too long and the pizzas were a little burnt (but still delicious).
8. Let pizzas cool for a few minutes before serving.