Toast the pine nuts in a fry pan with no oil. Toast them until you see the light brown spots and immediately remove from the pan to cool.

Place toasted pine nuts, fresh basil leaves, parmesan, salt and pepper, small garlic cloves and olive oil into a blender or food processor. Optional: squeeze in half a lemon for a brighter flavour. Blitz until you have a smooth consistency. (Hint: gradually add the olive oil as you blitz slowly, start with 7-9 tsps. and continue as needed until you have a nice uniform paste. Taste and add extra salt if required.

Once the paste is complete, slice your chicken breasts in half to form thinner cutlets. Place chicken cutlets into a bowl and drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add 2 tsps salt, 4-5 Tbsps all purpose seasoning and 3 Tbsps Italian Herbs. Mix until coated evenly.

Begin boiling water for your pasta (Hint: add a nice amount of salt to the pasta water and please don't add oil to the pasta water, it doesn't do anything). Heat a fry pan to medium-high and oil the pan to coat the bottom. Fry each side of the chicken cutlets until golden brown (4-5 mins per side). Remove chicken from pan and slice into even strips or chunks (up to you).

Let the pan cool slightly, add in your pesto with some additional oil. Let cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute (do not overcook this, lower heat is better, you do not want to darken the pesto.) Then add 300ml thickened cream and stir until paste combines.

Return chicken and allow to simmer for 10 minutes on a medium-low setting. This should be a gentle simmer, not a rough boil. Add black pepper to the sauce and begin grating in parmesan cheese to the sauce. I generally use a fairly heavy amount (1 cup) as it adds a nice flavour. Continue to simmer until the sauce has reduced and can stick to the back of your spoon. Optional: squirt lemon juice into the sauce for more tang. Taste and add salt if necessary.

Once pasta is cooked, immediately add into sauce mixture and stir on a low heat. Add the pasta slowly to avoid overcrowding, mix well and continue to add pasta until you feel the pasta to sauce ratio is appropriate. Serve immediately garnishing with chopped basil and additional parmesan on top.

Optional extra: if you have some time on your hands and want to impress whomever you're cooking for you can make parmesan crisps easily and use them as garnish for your pasta. You simply grate parmesan onto grease paper, form a circle pushing in the parmesan into the grease paper and bake at 200 for 5 minutes, of course check that they have formed properly and allow to cool to determine crispiness. Should be nice and light and flakey. Enjoy!