Monday, April 14, 2008

Baked Chicken Spaghetti

I took the photo before it was in the oven swimming in cream and covered in cheese. The time for a photo session, by then, is past and it's time to eat it! It's definitely a "make ahead" dinner and it spends a long time in the oven (I can't figure out why), but the end result is my new favorite food. Or at least in the top five. Enjoy!

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked (I used the meat from one rotisserie chicken)
12 oz. thin spaghetti, cooked
Chicken broth
2 T. olive oil
5 spears celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Seasoning salt to taste
1 pint heavy cream
2 c. shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

Boil spaghetti in chicken broth. Saute celery, green pepper, onion, and garlic in olive oil. When the vegetables start getting clear, add the tomatoes (and liquid) and continue to simmer. Add seasoning. Add chicken. Stir and keep on low heat for a few minutes.

Put spaghetti into a 9x13-inch baking dish (I used two 7x11-inch dishes and froze one). Pour vegetable/chicken mixture over the spaghetti. Refrigerate overnight (optional, but it makes a BIG difference). Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, covered. Remove the cover and pour 1 pint of heavy cream over the top and sprinkle the cheese on top of that. Bake uncovered for an additional 20 minutes.

(The original recipe had the first oven time as an hour and 40 minutes. Yikes. I only left it in for an hour and everything was warmed through enough to add the cream and move on.)

2 comments:

Katy said...

Does it really and truly have to be refrigerated overnight? Maybe a good meal for Sunday dinner?

Nicole said...

I'm sure it just makes the flavors richer. I froze half and it tasted just as good the second time. Perfect Sunday dinner.