Chicken-Spinach Pasta Casserole

Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3.5 (ZReboot 3.5) recipe. This dish can also be made with leftover turkey from a holiday party.

Servings: Serves 8 – 10

Ingredients:

  • 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • water and white wine
  • 1 Tbl of minced garlic (jar garlic is fine)
  • 2 Tbl of fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tsp of Italian seasoning
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
  • cayenne to taste (a very light dusting will do it) – optional
  • 16 oz of cream cheese
  • 1-1/2 cups of grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup of penne rigate (measure uncooked)
  • 1 lb of baby spinach

Instructions:

In a pasta pot cook your penne until al dente. For my taste that’s 13 minutes at a low boil. Stir to break  the pasta periodically.

In a large sauté pan add your chicken breasts. Cover with water and optionally add a ½ cup of white wine for extra flavor. Add the garlic and mix it into the water. Cook on medium high (low boil) for 15 minutes to poach the chicken breasts. Make sure no pink remains in the middle.  Remove them from the water. Keep the cooking water. You’ll need some of it later. Now shred the chicken. You can do this easily by using two forks. Hold the breast with one fork while you tug at the meat with the other. You can do a fine shred or a chunkier one. It’s up to you.

In order to make sure I have enough room I now take out a soup kettle. Put the chicken in. Add the lemon juice, Italian seasoning, pumpkin pie spice, salt and pepper, and a very light dusting of cayenne just to give it a teeny zip.  Then add the cream cheese (in chunks) along with the grated Parmesan cheese. Add one and a half cups of the cooking liquid (if there isn’t that much left you can supplement with tap water). Cook this on medium to heat the cream cheese so it and the Parmesan melt. When the sauce is all gooey you can add the full pound of baby spinach (If you want you can cut it up a bit to make the pieces smaller but it will shrink and shrivel so if you want you can leave it whole). Add it one handful or two at a time and mix it in and then add the rest. Once this is all stirred together you can assemble your casserole.

For 10 people I use a 9″ x 13″ pan and a 9″ x 9″ pan. Divide the pasta between the two pans. You’ll have just a coating of noodles on the bottom. Next pour the chicken concoction on top. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees or just until it gets a very light beginning of a crunchy coating on top.

Serve.

I serve with a simple side salad and garlic bread sticks or flatbread.

Enjoy!

Cheers,