Italian Baked Chicken & Pastina

By mattyrana

Ingredients

• 1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1 inch cubes)
• 1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 of a small onion)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 (14 1/2 oz.) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 tsp. Kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 Tbsp. butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish.

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400˚. 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 min. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium sauté 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 min. more. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a buttered 8x8x2 inch baking dish.

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