How to make Colm O'Gorman's heavenly pasta — linguine with chicken and gochujang

Colm O'Gorman's linguine with chicken and gochujang

This week’s recipe brings together ingredients from Italy, Korea, and Ireland. While that might read like an unusual grouping, it is in fact a dream combination. 

Linguine from Italy, fiery gochujang from Korea and beautiful Irish butter and vintage cheddar blend perfectly to give you a heavenly pasta dish.

Linguine is after all noodles, the perfect vehicle for a flavourful sauce of tomatoes and gochujang brought to smooth and creamy perfection by a generous knob of butter and then topped off with lots of grated vintage Irish cheddar, fresh chopped parsley, and spring onions.

Traditionalists may balk at the idea of cheddar over pasta instead of parmesan, but then this is not a traditional pasta dish. 

Gochujang works beautifully with sharp, mature, creamy cheeses such as cheddar, and both the butter and the cheese are a wonderful balance to the acidity of the tomatoes and the rich and spicy flavours of the gochujang.

Regular readers of this column will by now be familiar with gochujang, but if you have not tried it yet, then you are in for a treat. 

It is by far my favourite chill sauce, full of deep umami, earthy flavour, rich and smooth and slightly sweet. It is divine. 

You will find it in most Asian supermarkets, and in a sign of its increasing popularity, Tesco now also stock it. 

If you have a good Asian supermarket near you, do buy it here as it will be much better value. 

Even better, grab the ingredients you need and make your own. It only takes minutes to whip up a batch, requires no cooking, and homemade gochujang is just phenomenal.

You will find all the ingredients you need in any Asian Supermarket. 

To make up a batch, pop 100g of brown Korean soybean paste, 50g honey, 25g Korean red pepper powder, 1 tsp Apple cider vinegar, 1 grated clove of garlic and 50ml cold water into a bowl and whisk to combine. 

Transfer the sauce to a clean jar and store it in the fridge where it will keep for two to three weeks at least. It is that simple.

Use your lovely homemade gochujang for this recipe, to amp up a cheese and tomato toastie, slathered over a beautifully cooked steak or for any of the many recipes I have shared here in this column that use this fabulous ingredient. You will find lots of options on ieFood.

Linguine with chicken and gochujang

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

Gochujang works beautifully with sharp, mature, creamy cheeses such as cheddar, and both the butter and the cheese are a wonderful balance to the acidity of the tomatoes and the rich and spicy flavours of the gochujang.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 400g skinless boneless chicken breast

• 400g dried linguine

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 1 bunch spring onions

• 200g cherry tomatoes

• 1 tbsp tomato puree

• 3 tbsp gochujang

• 25g butter

• 100g grated vintage cheddar

• 30g fresh flat leaf parsley

Method

1. Dice the chicken breast into small pieces, roughly one-centimetre sized pieces are perfect. Wash and trim the spring onions, and thinly slice the white and thicker green stalks. Set aside the green leaves, you will use those later when serving up the pasta. Wash and cut the tomatoes into quarters.

2. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the dried linguine, reduce to a simmer, and cook according to the instructions on the packet, until the pasta is cooked but retains a little bite, about eight to nine minutes should do it.

3. While the pasta is cooking, warm a heavy based non-stick pan over high heat. Add the olive oil, and when it starts to shimmer, reduce the heat to medium and add the diced chicken breast. Cook for four to five minutes until the meat is seared, stirring regularly. Next add the chopped spring onions and cook for about two minutes until they soften. Add the chopped tomatoes, the tomato puree, and the gochujang. Stir well and cook until the tomatoes have softened, about five to six minutes.

4. While the sauce is simmering, drain the pasta, retaining a cup of the cooking water. Add half of that to the sauce and stir it in. The pasta water has lots of starch from the pasta and will help to make the sauce silky smooth. Add the butter and stir it in and allow the sauce to simmer for a few minutes it is smooth and glossy. Taste and adjust the seasoning as required. I never add more salt to this sauce as there is plenty in the cooking water and the gochujang also adds lots of flavour. Add a little freshly grind black pepper to taste if you wish.

5. Finally, add the cooked linguine, stirring it through to coat it in the sauce. If needed, add a little more of the pasta water to loosen up the sauce.

6. Wash and roughly chop the parsley and finely chop the green leaves from the spring onions that you set aside earlier.

7. Serve the pasta on warm plates. Scatter a generous amount of grated vintage cheddar on top of each serving and finish it with the chopped spring onions and parsley. Serve immediately.