Creative Cooking Italian Recipe
Tim's Italian Baked Chicken and Penne Recipe
Introduction
This is the Italian recipe that I made in my Creative Cooking class in March 2013. I picked this recipe since I am a big fan of chicken parmesan, and this recipe is a good and creative spin off of the traditional dish. The pictures that I have included show the process of making my dish from start to finish.
Recipe Yeild
This dish serves up to 4 people.
Ingredients and Equipment
1 cup penne pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup 1 inch cubed chicken breast
1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly groung black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan
2 tablespoons butter, divided
8x8 cooking pan
large stock pot
chefs knife
cutting board
medium saute pan
large and small mixing bowl
colander
wooden spoon
Method
Step 2
Bring the stock pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
Step 4
Put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes.
Step 5
Dice the onion and mince the garlic.
Step 6
Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through. This will take about 5 minutes more.
Step 9
Add the pasta, canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper to the large mixing bowl with the chicken mixture in it.
Step 13
Place the mixture in the prepared 8x8 pan. Then sprinkle the bread and cheese topping on top of the dish. After, separate the remainder butter and place the chunks on the top of the dish.
Comments
The original recipe had pastina as the pasta in the dish. Since pastina is a very small pasta, I switched it out with penne, a pen like small pasta that could hold the sauce better. I also found that the diced tomatoes were a little to chunky so if I had to make this again I would substitue the diced tomatoes with a red sauce. Along with the sauce, I found that there was not enough chicken in the dish. I would double the amount if I was serving this dish to a family of 4. Overall, this dish was very good and was easy but I recommend having at least one skilled sous chef to assist you.