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MOH’s Chicken Rigati

This recipe is a cooking accident… a happy accident. I didn’t have any hamburger meat, so I needed to figure out how to use what I had in the house. I had chicken! I wanted ground beef and pasta, but I love a challenge too. I have to keep my husband and kids on their toes. The secret to why this recipe is so good is because of the chicken broth. It adds a ton of flavor to the pasta so you don’t have to have a bite of chicken on every fork-full. Also, this recipe has the perfect amount of cheese and garlic. It doesn’t overwhelm the flavor, but works with it to give you something new.

INGREDIENTS:

4 chicken breasts

¼ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons Lemon Pepper

Salt (I like SeaSalt) to taste (approx. 1/2 teaspoon)

8 ounces Spaghetti Rigati broken into pieces about 3 inches in length

Chicken Broth and water (5 cups of broth and 5 cups of water)

½ cup minced sweet onion

¼ cup minced (about 6) garlic cloves (use half this amount if you’re not a big fan of garlic)

½ cup parmesan cheese + some for the top

1 slice of provolone cheese

1 slice Swiss cheese

Pot for boiling

Pan for sautéing

3 Quart baking dish

DIRECTIONS:

Bring the water and chicken broth to a boil. Add the chicken. Reduce flame to medium high and simmer for approximately 10-15 minutes.

When the chicken is done, pull out with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl, do not throw out the chicken broth.  Season the chicken with the lemon pepper and salt immediately so the chicken will absorb the seasoning. When the chicken is easy to handle,  shred with a fork and knife.  Set aside.

In a separate pan add the oil and butter over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the onion. Sauté on medium heat for 5 minutes till it just starts to caramelize.

When the onions begin to caramelize, add the garlic. The garlic is added after the onion because the onion takes longer to cook.  After the garlic and onion has caramelized, set aside.

Turn the chicken broth to high and when it is at a boil, add the Rigati.  Add more water if needed to make sure that there is enough water to cover the noodles.  Cook according to directions on box.  When the Rigati is done, turn the flame off.

Using a pasta server, pull the Rigati out of the broth and add to the garlic and onion mixture.

 Add the chicken and stir all the ingredients together.

Using a glass measuring cup, carefully dip into the broth mixture used to boil the Rigati.  Add approximately 1 ½ cups broth to the chicken, Rigati, and garlic mixture.

Add the ½ cup parmesan.  Stir all ingredients and pour into the baking dish.

Tear the provolone slice into pieces and spread over the pasta dish.  Tear the Swiss slice into pieces and spread over the pasta dish.  Sprinkle more parmesan over the dish.

Place in the oven under the broiler.  Broil for approximately seven minutes until the cheese is melted.   

Makes 8 cups

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