Baked pasta with chicken, tomato cream sauce, veggies, and a crunchy topping
My mom requested this dish this week: Penne Sardi. It’s a baked pasta dish with tomato cream sauce, chicken, mushrooms, caramelized onions, cheese and bread crumbs on top. The dish was always a must for us whenever we would eat at Biaggi’s years ago. Biaggi's was our go-to local Italian restaurant in Deer Park, and they have several locations across the US. We would go to Italian restaurants quite often since my brother only liked eating plain pasta; that hasn’t changed. This explains why I make so much Italian food because it was always our version of a fancy meal, and this dish is just that. My mom loved the meal and I made this for a few friends too...they all went back for seconds. So grab a glass of vino, a fork and dig in…for those wondering no my brother would not eat this!
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients
12 oz GF Penne cooked
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
4 chicken breasts
16 oz mushrooms chopped
1 onion sliced
2 T sugar
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
1 T ground thyme
2 T garlic minced
4 vine ripe tomatoes chopped
1.5 c heavy cream
1.5 T oregano dry
1.5 T basil dry
Parsley dry for garnish
1/3 c GF bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese for garnish
8 oz mozzarella shredded
4 T olive oil
1 T fennel seed
3 T GF tomato paste
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper and roast 30 mins. Let cool a few mins then slice.
3. Heat 2 T oil over medium. Sauté onion 8-10 mins. Stir in sugar and deglaze with balsamic vinegar. Remove.
4. Heat remaining oil over medium. Sauté mushrooms with thyme, salt and pepper for 4-5 mins. Remove.
5. Add tomato to same skillet over medium. Stir in garlic, basil, oregano, fennel seed for 6-7 mins. Stir in heavy cream and tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Grease a large casserole or 9 by 13 baking dish. Preheat oven to broil.
7. Combine pasta, chicken, onion, mushrooms, sauce and mozzarella. Pour into baking dish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and Parmesan.
8. Broil for 6-8 mins until golden brown on top. Remove from oven and serve.