Monday, April 23, 2007

Italian Baked Chicken

I found this recipe online (it's a Giada De Laurentiis) and made it tonight for the first time. It was really good and I wanted the share the wealth:

1 cup small pasta {I used small shells}
2 T. olive oil
1/2 c. cubed chicken
1/2 c. diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced (I used the bottled stuff)
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
1 c. shredded mozzarella
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 c. bread crumbs {I made mine by putting a slice of wheat bread in the blender and pulsing}
1/4 c. grated parmesan
1 T. butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl. While the pasta is cooking, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. {It took me more like 7-8 to finish cooking the chicken} Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the tomatoes, mozzarella, parsley, salt & pepper. Stir to combine. Pour into a greased 8x8 Pyrex pan. In a small bowl, mix together the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture and dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake for 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown.

I served it with a broccoli, cauliflower, carrot mixture with parmesan and mozzarella and would have also had garlic bread, but we didn't have any. Let me know how it turns out for you!

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