Saturday, March 29, 2008

#9: Weekly Dinner

My most recent weeknight dinner was Giada's Italian Baked Chicken & Pastina. I've come to realize that I can pretty much do no wrong in DH's eyes with a Giada recipe, haha! Thankfully, her recipes that I've chosen so far have been both delicious and easy.

I did make a few minor changes to the recipe (in italics), and I also doubled it and froze half. That's my biggest time saver when I make casseroles or similar dishes--takes a tiny bit longer when I'm cooking it for the first time, but save a lot of time when I'm able to just stick it in the oven straight from the freezer another night. As usual, I steamed some frozen veggies (peas in individual servings from Bird's Eye) for our side.

Italian Baked Chicken & Pastina
(Giada De Laurentiis)
(photo courtesy foodnetwork.com)
1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta) (I used mini-penne, since that's what I had)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes) (I used about a half pound of cubed chicken breast)
1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (I used fresh basil, because I love it)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (I left this out, and added 1/4 teaspoon extra pepper)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs (I used italian bread crumbs, since I had those)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl. (I went ahead and added the tomatoes at this point so the pasta wouldn't become a big sticky lump.)

Meanwhile, 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. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a buttered 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish.

In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

1 comment:

ashley said...

I don't think I've had a Giada recipe go wrong yet. I love her recipes!