Paleo and Whole30 prosciutto wrapped chicken roulade over zucchini pasta with pistachio arugula pesto

You made what now?  Yeah, long recipe title, sorry.  I am not a very big fan of basil (I know, I’m a bad Italian) so tonight I decided to give a new kind of pesto a try!  Figured pistachios (instead of pine nuts) would go well with a combination of arugula, parsley, and some fresh from the farm spinach (instead of basil) – brightened up with lemon juice.  Total success!  Another great thing about this dish?  Cook time is less than 20 minutes!  Who doesn’t love that?  This is delicious, fresh, and super clean/healthy!  Enjoy!

Prosciutto wrapped chicken over zucchini noodles with summer pesto

Ingredients:

2 pounds THINLY SLICED chicken breast

9 ounces prosciutto di Parma (you want 1 1/2 – 2 pieces per slice of chicken breast)

2 1/2 pounds of zucchini (green squash), sliced into noodles

1/2 cup of shelled pistachios, toasted

2 cups arugula

1 cup flat leaf parsley

2 cups spinach

2 cloves garlic, peeled

2 tbl. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

You will also need Kosher salt and pepper to season the chicken and 3-4 tbl. olive oil to cook the zucchini

Method:

Chicken

Roll your chicken and prosciutto into roulades

Lightly season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper, remember prosciutto is salty.  Place up to 2 pieces of prosciutto over each piece of chicken and roll into a roulade with the prosciutto facing out.  Preheat your grill, grill the chicken roulades until cooked through, about 4 minutes per side.

Grill the chicken roulades

Pesto

Preheat your oven to 350°F.  Place your shelled pistachios in a single layer on a small baking sheet, toast at 350°F for 8 minutes (this could also be done in a toaster oven set to 350°F).  In your food processor combine toasted pistachios, 2 cups arugula, 1 cup parsley, 2 cups spinach, 2 cloves garlic and process until a paste forms, scraping down sides of processor bowl as needed.  Add 1/2 tsp. kosher salt,  1/2 tsp. pepper, and 2 tbl. lemon juice and process until combined.  While the food processor is running slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup olive oil until combined.

Pistachio, arugula, parsley, spinach “summer pesto”

Pasta

Peel your zucchini.  Place the thick julienne blade attachment in your mandolin and slice the zucchini lengthwise into noodles.  Heat 3-4 tbl. olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  When hot add the zucchini noodles.  Saute until tender but still crisp, about 3 minutes.  Add as much of the pesto to the pasta as you prefer, I used about 1/3 cup.

Zucchini noodles

Summer pesto zucchini pasta

I served this dish with the chicken over top of the pesto coated pasta, then added a little more pesto onto the chicken.

Tags: paleo pesto, Paleo prosciutto chicken roulade, paleo summer pesto