Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina

I got a wild hair tonight for some reason, so I decided to cook for about three hours!  I ended up baking some chocolate chip cookies as well as this oh-my-God-it-smells-so-good piece of deliciousness!  I've had this recipe bookmarked for a very long time, but I never got around to actually making it until tonight.  Unfortunately Mr. L is still on evening shift, so he isn't here to smell our kitchen, but he'll be enjoying it tomorrow night for dinner for sure.  Let's get on with the recipe and pictures!

Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina courtesy of Giada de Laurentiis

Ingredients

• 1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
• 1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

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 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl.  (For some reason, I decided not to take a picture of this step!)

Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute 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 minutes more.  (Again, my brain was out the window and I forgot pictures here!)

Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta.

There, I finally started taking pictures!

Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.

Place the mixture in a buttered 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish.

In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture.  Dot the top with small bits of butter.

Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.  Enjoy!

I can't wait for Mr. L to try it :)  I hope you enjoy it as much as I am right now!