Sage & White Wine Chicken With Cheese Ravioli is one of those dinner recipes that’s so easy to make, but looks like you slaved all day over it. Start to finish, this is not difficult work to get on the table – it’s actually a fun, laid-back recipe to make and it’s so delicious! It’s the kind of thing I love to make for dinner with some nice music on the playlist and a glass of wine in my hand while I cook.
To kick things off, the chicken breasts are brined for about 15 minutes with the sage which gives it a lot of flavour, but also makes the meat more juicey and tender. Because you’re brining this, I will warn you to not add salt to this dish at all as you’re cooking or when you serve. It won’t be necessary.
When you’re preparing the brining solution, it’s important that you use only sea salt flakes, such as Maldon Salt. Sea salt flakes do not have the same intensity as very fine table salt, so if you’re using that you need to cut the required amount in half and use only about 40 grams. It’s best to use sea salt though and it’s what I prefer for all of my cooking, baking and for sprinkling at the table.
The sauce for the chicken & ravioli is so simple and yet delicious, using nothing more than white wine to deglaze the pan, the butter the chicken was cooked in and the pan juices from the chicken. It’s that simple. I’ve used store-bought ravioli here, the M&S Parmesan Ravioli from Ocado to be precise, because it’s convenient and easy for me, but if you’re feeling ambitious you could absolutely make a homemade cheese-filled pasta from scratch and it will be delicious. If you can’t find a good cheese ravioli, you could also use another cheese filled pasta like tortellini. Let’s get started!
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 litre cold water
- 85g sea salt flakes (such as Maldon Salt)
- 3 or 4 stems of fresh sage
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut in half
- 2 chicken breast fillets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 30g unsalted butter
- Glass of white wine
- 250g package of fresh cheese Ravioli
Method
- Start by preparing the brine. You need 1 litre of cold water and 85 grams of sea salt in a bowl. Stir with a whisk or a fork to help the salt dissolve. Add the sage, garlic and the chicken breasts and leave for about 15 minutes.
- When the 15 minutes is up, remove the chicken, garlic and sage and pat dry with paper towels. Really try to dry everything as much as possible. Remove the sage leaves and discard the stems.
- Put a pot of salted water with a drop of oil on to boil for the ravioli.
- Heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. When it starts to sizzle a bit, add the chicken and garlic. Cook the chicken for about 5 to 7 minutes or until quite browned on that side. Flip and cook for a further 5 to 7 minutes or long enough for the chicken to be cooked through. This could vary depending on the thickness of your chicken pieces. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove the two chicken breasts to a plate to rest.
- Add the sage to the pan and fry it until crispy. When it starts to crisp up, remove it to a plate to cool before serving.
- At this point, it’s probably safe to boil your pasta. It will only need like 3 or 4 minutes max.
- Now increase the heat to medium-high and pour in the white wine, but be careful as it might sizzle up a bit. Let it bubble away and reduce as you scrape all the flavourful bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to deglaze it. Stir as it cooks until it reduces to a dark, thicker, more syrupy sauce, but still light enough to pour with a spoon. Remove the garlic pieces and discard them before serving.
- When you’re ready to serve, divide the ravioli between two plates or pasta bowls. Slice the chicken breasts and pile the slices on top of the pasta. Spoon the sauce across the top of the chicken and the pasta. Finally, crumble the crispy sage and sprinkle it over top. Serve hot.
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