Baked penne with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes

By lisapearce

Ingredients

• 6 Tbs. butter, plus more for the baking dishes
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 pound penne rigate
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (8 oz. each) halved horizontally
• ½ cup plus 2 TBS. of all purpose flour
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups whole milk
• 10 oz. white mushrooms trimmed and thinly sliced
• ½ cup oil packed sun-tried tomatoes, drained and thinly sliced
• 1 ½ cups shredded provolone (6oz.)
• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan (4 oz.)

Preparation

Step 1

Pre head oven to 400, butter 2 shallow 2 quart baking dishes. In a large pot of boiling salted water cook pasta 3 min short of al dente, drain pasta and return to pot.

In a large non stick skill. Heat oil over medium high. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook until opaque throughout. 3 to 5 minutes per side. Halve each piece lengthwise, and then thinly slice crosswise.

In a 5 qt. dutch0ven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook whisking 1 minute. While whisking gradually add milk, bring to a simmer, whisking frequently. Add mushroom and tomatoes. Cook one minute. Off heat gradually stir in provolone and ½ cup Parmesan.

Add chicken and pasta to pot. Season with salt and pepper. Divide pasta mixture between baking dishes. Sprinkle each with ¼ cup Parmesan

Bake uncovered until top is golden and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

To freeze, Prepare thought step 4, let cool. Cover tightly with foil and freeze up to 3 months.

To bake from frozen, Preheat oven to 400 and bake (still covered in foil) on a rimmed baking sheet until center is hot. About 1 ½ hours. Remove foil bake until golden. About 15 minutes more