The reasoning behind the name of my blog, the 5 o’clock rush came to true fruition last night. As I was driving the kids to their music lessons, my DS asked me, “What is for dinner?” I drew a BLANK. I knew that dinner tonight had to be fast and easy so I could be fed and at Advanced Hockey Training for 730pm without that full belly feeling. FYI Lessons are at 5pm LOL!
En route to lessons, we passed Boston Pizza restaurant and that is when it hit me. I have always enjoyed a baked pasta dish with shrimp and feta. And I have the largest feta supply from a recent trip to Costco. 😉
Switching up a few ingredients……Dinner is done! WHEW!
Baked Chicken, Bacon and Feta Farfalle Recipe
Servings 4-6
Baked Chicken, Bacon and Feta Farfalle
Ingredients
- 3 strips of bacon, diced
Mise En Place FYI The pic shows Basil, I switched it up with Dill!
- 1 pkge. of chicken strips or tenders. cut into bite size pieces
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 14 oz. can of premium diced tomatoes
- 1 cup of water
- 1 cup of leftover homemade tomato soup*
- 1-340 g box of farfalle, (bow-tie), cooked
- 1 ½ cups of crumbled feta
- 2 tsp. of fresh dill, finely chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Preheat your oven to 350℉ (177℃)
Using kitchen shears, cut the bacon and chicken into bite size pieces. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces.
In a saucepan, fry the bacon until crispy. To assist in the bacon crisping faster, add a tablespoon of water to the hot pan. Remove bacon from pan, and use bacon fat to saute the chicken pieces until cooked. Then add the shallots and cook until translucent about 2 minutes.
Empty the can of tomatoes to the chicken and shallots, rinse out can with 1 cup of water; add to pan. Return the cooked bacon to sauce and then add leftover homemade tomato soup*. Taste the sauce, and adjust seasoning if necessary but remember feta is very salty, so don’t over salt. Heat on low.
Cook farfalle in heavily salted water according to instructions on the box less 1 minute. I chose to cook my to firm which was 10 minutes. Before straining pasta, reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking liquid.**
Mix dill, sauce, farfalle with 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese. Place in baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup of crumbled feta cheese.
Baked in a preheated oven for 10 minutes then broil for 5 minutes. Keep an eye it while until the broiler. You are not cooking the dish, it is just a warming through and melting the cheese.
Piping Hot Deliciousness!
Serve hot with a salad and some Italian or french bread to sop up the sauce.
Baked Chicken, Bacon and Feta Farfalle
* As I’m a big believer in using your pantry which includes your fridge and freezer, I had some leftover soup from a previous dinner. The recipe for this soup can be found in a previous post: Low-Fat Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup with Crab and Goat Cheese | the 5 o’clock rush To retain the creamy consistency, I suggest a great alternative would be 1 cup of Fat-free Evaporated milk or if feeling indulgent a 10% or higher cream or some tomato sauce/tomato puree. Do not substitute with a can of tomato soup!
** Tip: Sometimes is your final sauce for pasta not up to par? Why add plain old tap water too thin or adjust your sauce when you are going to dump this goodness down the drain? I always reserve at least 1 cup of the starchy, salty flavourful cooking liquid before straining the pasta.
For a gooey pasta baked, an addition of 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese will do the trick! 😉
the 5 o'clock rush 