Chicken with Rigatoni, Crème Fraîche and Tarragon

Cut the onion in half through the root, peel and slice thinly into half moon slices. Remove the root from the leek and chop into ½cm slices. Remove the top and bottom from the courgette, cut lengthways into four strips. Chop each strip into three pieces.

Peel and finely chop the garlic.Pick the tarragon leaves and discard the stalks. Roughly chop the leaves.

Cut the chicken breasts into 2cm pieces, season with ¼ tsp of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Heat a large frying pan over high heat until hot and add ½ tbsp of oil. Add the chicken to the pan, brown on both sides and then remove from the pan. Tip: Do this in batches if necessary, so as to not overcrowd the pan and stew the chicken.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the chopped onion and leek. Cook for 2 mins until they begin to soften. Add the courgette and garlic, then return the chicken to the pan. Pour in 250ml of water, bring to the boil and stir in the chicken stock pot until it has dissolved. Reduce the heat to low, half cover the pan with a lid or foil and leave to cook for 10 mins. Tip: You want the stock in the pan to reduce by half as the chicken cooks, so take the lid off after 5 mins if there is too much liquid in the pan.

Pop the rigatoni in the pot of boiling water and cook for 10 mins. When cooked, drain in a colander and then return to the pot off the heat. Season your rigatoni with a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper.

After 10 mins check if your chicken is cooked by making sure the centre is no longer pink. Pour in the crème fraîche. Add your chopped tarragon, a squeeze of lemon juice and then mix together with your drained rigatoni.