Recipe of the Day: Giada's Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina | Everyday Italian | Food Network

Pastina may be the most kid-friendly pasta because it's small and comes in fun shapes. I'm going to mix it with sautéed chicken and vegetables, then bake it with a cheesy parmesan crust on top. The kids will love baked chicken and pastina, and so will you. While Charlie and Lucy play outside, I'm going to make the perfect lunch for them, my Italian pastina with chicken. So first thing I want to do is just salt my water for the pasta. Now, pastina just means little pasta, so it can be any shape. It can be these elbow macaroni, which I just love. We're just going to throw in. There we go. And they puff up, so you don't need that much. We'll let these cook, and because the pasta is so small, it only takes about five or six minutes to cook. So while that cooks, I'm going to heat my skillet, and we're going to cook some chicken. So we're going to add some chicken to the pastina, then bake it with cheese. It's going to be a hit. I know I loved it as a kid. Something that you can make in advance, and then just reheat it later on if you need to. You can make a whole bunch, like just a big baking dish full. So I'm just going to add the chicken to my frying pan, and you just want to brown the chicken a little bit. In the meantime, I am going to just use half an onion, and a little bit of garlic. Just one clove. My mom used to make this kind of dish for us when we were kids. Absolutely loved it. It's sort of the ultimate comfort food for us. You can smell it all over the house too. It's perfect. And what kid doesn't love a cheesy pasta dish? They always do. Just turn that around, and the chicken will finish cooking in the oven with the pasta. You just want to give it a little bit of flavor by browning it in the pan. Just a bit here. There we go. Then you just add the onions and the garlic. A little bit, and just saute that. Just until the onions become soft, and you can smell the garlic. It's really yummy. Alright, while that cooks, it's time for me to grate all the cheese. So we're just going to take the box grater and some mozzarella. Just a little bit more to go. Perfect. So now we've got the mozzarella, and let's see about the chicken. Chicken's just about ready, and let's check the pasta. The pastina should be ready, and you just want to cook it until a little bit under al dente. Five minutes or so, and it's ready to go. Perfect. Pasta's ready. Now I'm going to add the chicken, the onions, and the garlic. And a little bit goes a long way with all of this. Add all of the mozzarella right on top. And see already, the hot pasta is melting the mozzarella. Yummy. And we're also going to add some fresh flat leaf parsley. So parsley and some tomatoes. Got to add some tomatoes. Again, color, and also the tomatoes help keep the pasta from sticking to each other as well. So we're just going to add a can of tomatoes. See how pretty that is? You don't have to worry about it all being cooked completely, because it's going to finish cooking in the oven. And I want to add a little bit of salt, and just a little bit of cracked black pepper. Just a tad. That's it. Not too much. Mmm. Look at the mozzarella all melted in there. So good. Now I just want to put it in my buttered baking dish. I'm just going to put it all in there. This is the secret on top. I use store-bought breadcrumbs. What I love about them is they're nice and dry, so they make for a nice crisp crust on top. And we are going to add some right on top. In my family, we all love cheese, so we always add quite a bit of cheese. Mix these two together, and then just sprinkle it right over the top, just like that. And if you ever wonder how you get it to be golden brown, I just add a little bit of soft butter right over the top. And the breadcrumbs absorb the butter, and that creates a wonderfully golden crust. Crispy, kind of buttery. It's so good. I'm going to bake this at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.