I try to be as organized as possible when I'm making something with several ingredients. Here you can see all the ingredients prepped for cooking- the mozzarella cheese, chopped onions, cubed chicken breast, chopped parsley, and even though the recipe didn't call for it, mushrooms. Because I had them, and they are delicious.
Before I could assemble the rest of the dish, I had to cook the pasta. The recipe called for one cup. I had a lot of the other ingredients, so to keep the proportions in balance I made two. Remember that the pasta is going to continue cooking in the oven, so only cook the pasta until it's al dente.
Once the pasta is almost done, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and assemble the rest of the mixture. Saute the onions with the chicken.
Then add the mushrooms.
Cook for about 5 minutes until the chicken is done. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the cheese, parsley, and the chopped canned tomatoes. Add the cooked pasta.
When the pasta is properly coated with the chicken tomato mixture, transfer to a baking pan.
Sprinkle generously with parmigian and bread crumbs. I used italian seasoned panko bread crumbs. Panko adds a delightful crunch, and these are pre-seasoned. I was very excited to find them at the supermarket. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the bread crumbs turn golden brown. If you find, as I had that they aren't toasted to your liking, just stick it under the broiler for a few minutes.
This dish turned out to be exactly what I wanted. Many italians talk about how americans over sauce their pasta, in this dish, the pasta wasn't bombarded with sauce. There was just enough to flavor it between the chicken, the cheese, and the tomatoes. The bread crumbs were fantastically savory, crunchy, and a lovely contrast against the soft pasta.
