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| Cheesy chicken and pasta bake! |
Fall weather is coming soon, which means more
delicious dinners to make! This baked pasta tomato ziti-style dish uses
chicken, artichoke hearts and just the right amount of cheese. It's
lovely and filling on cold evenings. I've adapted this recipe from a
few I've found online. This version is my favorite, though I believe you
may swap out the meat and vegetables and it would still work well. There are several steps in this dish, and it took about 1.5 hours from
start to finish.
Ingredients:
1 pound (box) of dry Rotini or Penne shaped
pasta
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into
6-7 pieces
12 oz. of artichoke hearts (Trader Joe’s frozen
bag works great)
8 oz. of fresh mushrooms, sliced
½ yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 26-ounce jar tomato pasta sauce
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| Pasta, vegetables and chicken cooking! |
3/4 cup sour cream
6 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
2 ounces shredded parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of butter
4-6 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp. of French herbs
Salt to taste
Non-stick cooking spray
Equipment:
9x13 baking dish
Large skillet
3 quart pot for pasta
Cutting board, knife, tongs/spatula
Instructions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 baking
dish with non-stick cooking spray or lightly grease with butter.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil
then add pasta and cook according to the package directions for al dente, about
7-10 minutes. Before draining, reserve about a 1/2 cup of the pasta water – we
will use this later. Then, drain pasta, leave in colander briefly.
Once the pasta is cooked, use the same pot to
heat the tomato sauce on the stove. When it’s slightly bubbling, turn off the
heat and add cooked pasta back in and toss to coat. Set aside.
In large skillet, heat olive oil until shimmering,
add in chicken pieces. Add in salt and
French herbs on top. Sauté chicken until
brown and cooked on all sides, about 7-9 minutes. Remove from pan, let cool slightly, and chop
chicken into smaller, bite size pieces. Set aside.
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| Sauteing mushrooms, onions and garlic |
In the same large skillet, heat up more olive
oil. Add in the chopped onion. Caramelize
the onion in 5 minutes, then push to the side of the pan, off the heat. Add in 2 tablespoons of butter, let
melt. Add in chopped mushrooms and
minced garlic, sauté for 4 minutes. Add
in frozen artichoke hearts and reserved ½ cup of pasta water. Sauté for 2 minutes and mix all vegetables
together. Add salt if desired. Turn off heat. Add chopped chicken back into the
skillet, toss to mix.
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| Last layer before the cheese |
Add about half of the pasta and sauce mixture
to the baking dish. Then, spread half of the chicken and vegetables on top,
pressing down to create an even level.
Spread all of the sour cream, top with half of the mozzarella and
parmesan cheeses. Add remaining pasta
and chicken and vegetables layers. Press everything down into the baking dish
then scatter the rest of the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses on top. Sprinkle
chopped basil over top.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Remove, let cool
for 5 minutes, then scope out to serve and enjoy!
