When I first started working, I shared a house with four other people.  We had a cooking rota. There was a home-cooked meal every Sunday to Thursday, meaning we all only had to cook once a week. Of course, as we were young, we rightly assumed everyone would be out on  Friday and Saturday nights…

My cooking night was Wednesdays. Somewhere along the way, I can across this chicken pasta sauce which was so popular with my housemates that it became a regular request for Wednesday nights. I do not know what it was originally called but one housemate named it ‘Special Chicken’ and it has remained so named ever since.

I have always served this with fusilli but use what you have (rigatoni, farfalle, cavatappi or orecchiete would be fine) although I don’t think spaghetti really works because it doesn’t hold the thick sauce well enough.

Special Chicken Pasta

Ingredients

  • 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 4 chicken breasts
  • 2 tbls plan flour
  • 1 tsp dried sage
  • 1 tbls butter
  • 1 large onion
  • 4 rashers of bacon
  • Dried parsley
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Salt & pepper
  • 300 ml chicken stock

Instructions

  1. Chop the chicken breasts into cubes of around 1 inch.  Combine the flour and dried sage in a bowl and coat the chicken pieces in the flour.
  2. Melt the butter in a pan and fry the chicken until it is a lovely golden colour.  Set chicken aside.
  3. Chop the onion and bacon and fry until the onion is soft and the bacon is starting to crisp.  Set aside on some kitchen paper.
  4. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (160 fan).
  5. In an ovenproof dish, combine chicken, onion, bacon, chicken soup, chopped tomatoes, stock, a glug of Worcestershire sauce, a  pinch of salt, some black pepper, a teaspoon of dried parsley and another 1/2 teaspoon of dried sage.  Sage is a bully of a herb so use it sparingly.
  6. Cover the dish and bake for about 45 minutes to soften the chicken and give the ingredients time to turn into a lovely thick sauce.
  7. Cook the pasta and stir through the sauce.  Top with lots of parmesan and some chopped fresh parsley if you have it.

 

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