Australian
Good Food Everyday
From
Good Food Everyday
season
1
episode
8
Gwen’s Curry Pasta Bake
With
Gary Mehigan
Cath Collins' coconut-yellow-curry pasta bake with chicken, mushrooms and peas.
About this recipe
Cath Collins brings the home-cook classic: wholemeal fettuccine, diced chicken breast, mushrooms and peas folded through coconut cream and Ayam yellow curry paste, then baked until the top crisps. Tomato through the middle keeps it bright. Sweet-savoury crossover food, the kind kids will eat without negotiation.
The coconut-cream-and-curry-paste base is the Australian-Thai pasta crossover that sits halfway between an Italian cream sauce and a Thai red curry. The yellow curry paste (gentler than red or green, built on turmeric, lemongrass, galangal and dried red chillies) reads sweet rather than hot, which is what makes the dish work as family food.
Wholemeal fettuccine is the unexpected pasta choice. The nuttier, slightly chewier wholemeal version stands up to the rich coconut sauce better than a thin white spaghetti; cook it just past al dente so it holds together through the bake without going soggy.
Reserve half a cup of pasta water before draining. The starch in the water loosens the sauce in the pan and helps it cling to the pasta when everything goes into the baking dish. Tomato (fresh or canned, chopped) folded through the middle stops the dish from reading as a one-note coconut bowl. Top with a thin layer of grated cheese and bake at 200 for fifteen minutes until the crust crisps. A green salad on the side; family at the table.
Ingredients
- 250g Wholemeal Fettucine
- 30g Butter
- splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 250g Mushrooms
- 250g diced Tasman Butchers Chicken Breast
- 50ml water
- 405ml of Ayam Light Coconut Cream
- 2 tbsp Ayam Thai Yellow Curry Paste
- ½ cup Peas
- 2 beaten Eggs
- 1 chopped Tomato
- 3 tbsp Parmesan Cheese
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Cook the wholemeal fettucine in a large pot of boiling water according to packet directions. Before draining, reserve ½ cup of the pasta cooking water. Drain and set aside.
3. While the pasta is cooking, heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter and a drizzle of olive oil, allowing the butter to melt gently without burning.
4. Stir in the Ayam Yellow Curry Paste and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
5. Add the diced Tasman Butchers chicken breast and cook for approximately 2 minutes.
6. sauté the mushrooms until softened and the chicken is cooked through, about 2–3 minutes.
7. Pour in 1½ cans (approx. 405ml) of Ayam Light Coconut Cream. Add a small splash of sodium-reduced stock and a pinch of pepper. Stir to combine and allow to simmer gently.
8. Add half a cup of peas and cook for another 1–2 minutes.
9. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs.
10. Add the whisk eggs to the drained pasta into an ovenproof dish with a small amount of reserved pasta water and toss to coat.
11. If required, loosen the sauce with a little extra reserved pasta water.
12. Add the cooked chicken and mushroom sauce evenly over the pasta.
13. Top with chopped tomato and a light sprinkle of Parmesan.
14. Bake at 200°C for 5–10 minutes or until heated through and lightly golden.
15. Serve with curly parsley
Gary Mehigan
Gary Mehigan spent eleven seasons as a judge on MasterChef Australia before turning his attention to the road. He hosts Around the World on Two Plates and Good Food Everyday, cooking through markets and family kitchens from Spain to Sri Lanka. His own kitchen instinct sits in classical French technique with a forensic eye for produce.
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