Originally posted 9th December 2016
25 Days of Christmas
#9 | Chicken Pasta Bake Recipe
If I’m not mistaken this recipe is also Slimming World friendly, but don’t think that takes away from the flavour!
So last Saturday me and my sister were making lunch/dinner (whilst helping with the Christmas Decorations and I was watching the Rugby & Football).
All the ingredients we looked up online used ingredients we didn’t have in the house so in the end we decided to wing it and do it ourselves, because of this I don’t have any measurements.
Ingredients:
Chicken (we used pre-diced but you could dice yourself)
Pasta
1 Leek (optional)
1 Onion
Vegetable Stock
Frylight (or regular oil if you don’t use frylight)
Sea Salt (or regular salt)
Cheese
Tomato Sauce
x2 Tinned Chopped Tomatoes
x1 Grated Onion
x2 tsp Tomato Puree
x3 Garlic Cloves
Basil (either fresh or not, I didn’t have any fresh)
Salt & Pepper to taste
OPTIONAL: 1/2 tsp cornflour – to thicken (but will thicken on its own if left long enough).
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.
Boil pot of pasta with some salt/sea salt to taste.
Put some frylight (oil) into a pan and wait for it to get hot. Then fry off the leek and onion with the chicken to add taste. Once the chicken is cooked add in the vegetable stock (measuring jug, hot water, stock cube, mix – done!) to keep from drying out and add more taste. (Potentially, we’re not chefs but this was our thinking). Remember to stop frying before it gets too dry though.
Once all is cooked mix together into one big pot and leave to the side. It may get slightly cooler but it doesn’t matter.
The tomato sauce is going to take the longest time so I recommend doing this part before, during and after the rest is done. You might know a better way and recipe but this was my first attempt.
In a saucepan empty out two cans of tomato sauce. Using the cans run it under water and empty the rest of the juice into the saucepan as well. This helps to keep it from sticking to the sides when cooking – this may also be why it takes so long to thicken so if you’d prefer try only one can rather than both.
Keep stirring the sauce throughout. Add in the grated onion, three cloves of garlic, tomato puree, basil and salt and pepper.
TIP: When I told someone at work I’d be making a tomato sauce she told me that the longer you cook it the sweeter it gets, which means no need to add sugar!
If you absolutely need to thicken it add half a teaspoon of cornflour however, it will start to thicken on its own eventually.
Once the sauce is done add it into the big pot with the chicken & pasta mix. Stir thoroughly and add a little each time to make sure you get everything. Then spoon into a glass oven dish, roasting dish, casserole dish – basically something safe for the oven and spread evenly.
Once you have the amount of mixture you like (if there’s some left over don’t worry, you can use to make another batch) add some grated cheddar (or your favourite) cheese on top (if you’re Slimming World remember this can be used as HEX A if you wish)
Put into the pre-heated oven and cook for 20 minutes.
Once out of the oven leave to cool for about 5 minutes, dish out and serve.
It’s such an easy recipe but tasted really good so I thought I’d share it with you all! Last weekend was so lovely with the family and the homemade meal by me and my sister just added nicely to the occasion.
