As part of our Let's Cook! resources, we asked three Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes to cook us their favourite meal and explain what they love about cooking.

Emily Campbell is a Team GB weightlifter. She won Team GB’s first weightlifting medal in 37 years at the Tokyo 2020 Games – becoming only the sixth person in history to do so. Her cooking style is inspired by her British and Jamaican heritage. She loves trying new dishes at restaurants and then discovering ways to recreate them for her family at home.

Emily Campbell's Cajun chicken pasta with broccoli

A quick cramy pasta dish with a Cajun kick!

Ingredients

• 300g chicken breast
• 2 teaspoons garlic granules 
• 2 teaspoons mixed herbs  
• 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning 
• 4 garlic cloves 
• 200g tenderstem broccoli 
• 1 red onion 
• 1 pot of crème fraîche
• 1 handful spinach
• 150g pasta 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan. 
2. Wash your hands before putting the chicken breast in a bowl and add 1 teaspoon each of the garlic granules, mixed herbs, Cajun seasoning, plus salt and pepper. Use your hands to ensure the chicken is evenly coated in the seasoning. Wash your hands well before putting the chicken into the pre-heated oven for 20–30 minutes.
3. Chop the garlic cloves and onion, and chop the ends off the broccoli stalks. Place the broccoli on a sheet of tin foil. Add half of the garlic and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Wrap the tin foil up and around the broccoli to create a parcel. Before scrunching the parcel closed, add a splash of boiling water from the kettle. Place the parcel in the oven with the chicken to steam for 10 minutes. 
4. Bring a medium sized pan of water to the boil. Add a teaspoon of salt and your pasta. Cook for around 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, add a drizzle of oil to a pan and add the onions and the other half of the garlic. Allow to cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes until softened.
6. Add 1 teaspoon each of the garlic granules, mixed herbs and Cajun seasoning, plus salt and pepper, to the pan and mix well.
7. Reduce the heat and add the whole pot of crème fraîche and a generous handful of spinach leaves. Mix well and cook until the spinach has wilted into the sauce. 
8. Drain your cooked pasta, keeping a small amount of the water in the pan – this will help to thin out the sauce. Add the pasta and cooking water to the sauce and combine well.
9. Finish with an optional squeeze of lemon juice, before serving the pasta with the slices of chicken and the steamed broccoli on top. 

Check out our Let's Cook! resources!

Cooking is an essential life skill that enables students to feed themselves and their family, affordably and well, now and in later life. Informed by the social model of disability, Let's Cook! allows students to understand the importance of developing cooking skills, explore the barriers that make it more difficult for some, and challenge them to get creative to inspire others to learn.

 

Find out more on the Let's Cook! page and check out the other recipies in the series: Amy Conroy’s chilli con carne and Chris Skelley’s mid-week fajitas.