Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina

Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina
From: The Food Networks Giada De Laurentiis

I love the food network…. in love… my favorite channel…. its on when I’m watching tv, cooking, baking, cleaning, editing photos….. yeah its on all the time!

But since we just moved into the old farm house we don’t have cable yet (really we don’t have any cable lines…….ugh) so I have to rely on my trusted Food network.com to get my “fix” haha.

So when In doubt of what to fix for dinner last night; I turned to my trusted Foodnetwork and found this wonderful dish!! I will warn you though… it does make a lot.

We had enough for dinner, for Hubby and I, Dinner for Hubby’s Dad and lunch for the 3 of us at the office today… with leftovers… haha.

I really liked this because it wasn’t dried out like most “bakes”!

What You Need:
1 box Penne pasta (or any small pasta)
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 chicken breasts cubed (1-inch cubes)
1 teaspoon onion salt
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
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish

What to do:

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.

Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes.Add garlic, stirring to combine, and cook 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.

BEFORE THE OVEN: