Baked Penné Pasta with Chicken and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Jeremy finished his 4th/5 exams today. Poor guy has had 4 exams in the past 5 days. To decompress, he helped me make dinner tonight while Georgie looked on ... sniffing the air :) I have to say that for this meal, it's very nice to have a helper on hand - one person whisking the sauce while the other runs around getting all of the ingredients ready! If you don`t have a helper on hand, I`d recommend you really prepare the garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes etc. all before hand so that things run smoothly. This dish was pretty darn yummy. You can make it before hand and freeze it for later, which is always nice on a day that things are going to be pretty crazy around dinner time! Bon appétit!


Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter, plus more for baking dishes
coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 pound penne rigate
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, halved horizontally
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoons all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups whole milk
5 ounces white mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and thinly sliced
3/4 cup shredded provolone (3 ounces)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan (2 ounces)


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400. Butter a shallow 2-quart baking dish. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes short of al dente; drain pasta, and return to pot.

2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper; cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Halve each piece lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise.

3. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking, 1 minute. While whisking, gradually add milk; bring to a simmer, whisking frequently. Add mushrooms and tomatoes; cook 1 minute. Off heat, gradually stir in provolone and 1/4 cup Parmesan.

4. Add chicken and pasta to pot; season with salt and pepper. Add pasta mixture to your baking dish; sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan.

5. Bake, uncovered, until top is golden and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.