Mama's Pesto Chicken Pasta

Pesto is such a wonderful, misinterpreted sauce and it is so very versatile that to try and tell you that this is all you will have have to know about Pesto would be unkind of me.
Pesto in so many ways can really sum up Italian cooking. What most people here in America seem to think is that Italian cooking is just one nations type of cooking but what they don't understand is that Italy is a country of vastly different cultures and traditions. Think of it like New York style pizza and Chicago pizza. Order a pizza in New York and you're going to get a thin crust simple topping pizza. Order a pizza in Chicago you're going to get a deep, dish, lots of sauce, cheese, and toppings type of pizza. Same idea different follow through but try to tell one that the other is better and you'll loose a finger or two.
Northern Italy has traditions and ways of cooking that are not the same as Southern Italy. Sicily is well....let's just leave Sicily out of this because honestly Sicily does their own things and this, this I like. But the point is that Pesto is not just your everyday green sauce we as Americans lump it into. Pesto really is just any sauce where the ingredients are raw and ground together then put over something. Pesto in Italian means "pounded" and when talking about cooking Pesto means a "Raw, pounded sauce". Though we know it mostly as a basil sauce, this is just not the honest case. There are lots and lots of different ways to make Pesto and I encourage you all to try many different ones out.
This is my favorite way to make Pesto.

What you need:
 
  Pesto:
     a bundle of FRESH cilantro
     3 tbsp Your favorite olive oil (preferably nothing with too strong of a flavor that it will out weigh the    cilantro)
    Roughly a handful of  Walnuts
    3/4 a cup  Parmesan-Reggiano
     2 gloves of garlic

4 chicken breast
1 large onion
pasta
cherry tomatoes


Rules:
   Always wash your fresh herbs the minute you get them home from the store. Cilantro is pulled right from the dirt...you need to wash it really really well.
  don't buckle yourself down on the garlic, go with what you like add a little more or a little less for taste.
Not a Walnut fan than change that too. Go for the more "traditional" pine-nut instead.


Start:
   Put Noodles in boiling water.
Cut onions, then chicken into bite size pieces and place in large skillet to cook on medium-high heat stirring occasionally.
In a food processor add your garlic, and nuts then give it a few pulses.
Add in cilantro and give it a few more pulses.
Then turn it on high and while the processor is turning add in your olive oil.
Take off lid and pour paste into a bowl.
Sprinkle in the Parmesan-Reggiano and mix together.
I don't like to add the cheese into the food processor because I feel like it warms the cheese up too much. So I do it by hand.

Add 2 tbsp of Pesto into the onions and chicken mix and allow to cook until chicken is done

Pour 1/4 cup of the water from the pasta into the chicken mixture before draining the rest of the water out into the sink. There is lots of flavor still in that water. you want.
In the pasta pot add in the rest of the Pesto and mix together.
Then add in chicken and onion mixture and stir.
Serve up on a dish toping each serving with freshly cut cherry tomatoes.