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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Cheesy Chicken Tortolleni Bake

Ingredients
Pasta Mixture:1/2 cup Chopped onion
1 tsp Olive oil
1 Garlic clove, pressed
1 jar White Alfredo pasta sauce (16 oz.)
2 Pkgs refrigerated cheese-filled regular or spinach tortellini (9 oz each pkg)
1 1/2 cups Cubed cooked chicken
1 cup Milk
1 cup Water
1 cup Frozen peas
1/4 tsp Ground black pepper
2 tbsp Snipped fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp dried basil leaves

Crumb Topping:1/4 cup Grated fresh Parmesan cheese (1 oz)
2 tbsp Butter or margarine
1 cup Fresh bread crumbs

Preparation1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. For pasta mixture, chop onion with Food Chopper
3. In 4 qt. Casserole, heat oil over medium-high heat; add onion and garlic pressed with Garlic Press. Cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until onion is tender.
4. Stir in pasta sauce, tortellini, chicken, milk, water, peas, and black pepper. Heat until mixture just comes to a boil; remove from heat.
5. Stir basil into pasta mixture
6. For crumb topping, grate Parmesan cheese. Place butter in microwave on HIGH 30-45 seconds or until melted. Stir in bread crumbs and cheese; mix well.
7. Spoon pasta mixture into Square Baker; spinkle with crumb topping. Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are bubbly and topping is golden brown


My changes:
*I made this w/o chicken - it was still FAB!
*I used packaged bertolli tortolleni that I had to boil first, I just boiled it for 1/2 the time (like 5min) and then went ahead with the directions.
*I also left onions out because I didn't have any and used garlic powder instead of pressed garlic, am lazy!
* This is REALLY good and not as rich as you might think

1 comment:

Jamie said...

Thanks for sharing - I tried this tonight and it was delish!

My tweaks (based on what I had on hand) - Used crushed townhouse crackers instead of bread crumbs, and grated parmasean from the fridge(instead of freshly shredded)
...also added a little salt.

When I transferrred the pasta mix into the casserole dish, I also poured off about 1/2 cup of the liquid (before cooking).

It was great - My husband and I both loved it. At first my daughter was a little picky, and just ate the peas...but then softened to the pasta/chicken and loved it too.

I think it will be even better tomorrow for lunch after it has sat all night.

Thanks again Andrea!