Mary Berry's Chicken Pasta Bake - My Gorgeous Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How to make Mary Berry's midweek chicken bake? ›

In a bowl, mix the passata and Worcestershire sauce together, then season with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture into the base of the oven dish. Mix the cream chase, mozzarella, basil and tomatoes into a bowl and also season with salt and pepper. Next, cut a chicken breast three-quarters of the way to make a slit.

CONVENTIONAL OVEN - Bake in an oven preheated to 200˚C/Fan 180˚C/Gas 6 for up to 25 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes.

The sauce and tomatoes in this Italian recipe provide enough moisture to bake it uncovered. Some pasta bake recipes may require covering to retain adequate moisture and prevent drying.

For Baked Pasta Dishes

As for picking the perfect pasta shape, we recommend choosing a short cut—like Penne, Shells or Rigatoni—with hollow middles, twists or scoop-like shapes to capture all the goodness of your baked pasta: sauces, small ingredients and melty cheeses galore.

It's so easy and inexpensive to make your own, but if you're pushed for time, any shop-bought tomato-based pasta sauce will be fine. I will admit to using these quite regularly! Just check the ingredients list first – it should be short and all ingredients should be recognisable!

Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a medium pan and fry the mushrooms over a medium heat for 5–10 minutes, or until just cooked. Add to the chicken casserole just before serving. Remove the bay leaves and thyme from the casserole and serve the casserole hot with mashed potato and shredded cabbage.

Larger cuts, such as whole chickens or bone-in pieces, often benefit from covered baking to ensure thorough and even cooking. Smaller cuts, like chicken breasts or tenders, can be baked uncovered for quick results. Lastly, think about the desired texture and flavor you're trying to achieve.

Brine. Like a marinade, a brine helps chicken breast soak up as much moisture as possible before cooking. It only requires three ingredients: water, salt, and a pinch of sugar.

Getting a good sear through medium high heat, then reducing the heat to LOW and COVERING the chicken while it cooks. The butter, oil, and chicken juices create a super flavorful liquid that acts as a way to steam the chicken at a low temperature, ensuring that it is moist & tender on the inside.

If your chicken breast are tough, you cooked them too long. Chicken breasts are hard to get right because they have a fat end and a skinny end. The fat end takes a bit longer to cook.

What is the point of a pasta bake? ›

If there's anything more comforting than boiled pasta in a sauce, it's got to be baked pasta in a sauce. The baking adds a crispy crust that is such a delicious contrast to the tender goodness of the dish. The challenge is to how to get the pasta to turn out just right.

Cook them just until they are slightly underdone or "al dente." They will continue cooking in the casserole, and overcooked pasta can absorb too much liquid and become mushy, leading to a dry casserole. Lack of Sauce: Casseroles need enough sauce to keep the ingredients moist.

When making a pasta bake I personally like to cover for the first part of the cooking and then uncovered for long enough to brown the cheese. I cover with a layer of baking paper and then foil as the baking paper prevents the cheese from sticking.

Baked ziti is tossed with an extruder style, dried pasta similar to a penne, and then tossed with marinara sauce, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, and then baked in the oven. Lasagna is made by layering pasta sheets, often fresh pasta sheets, marinara sauce, ricotta cheese and mozzarella, and then baked.

Penne is a good choice for baked pasta dishes, it holds up well in the oven and is the perfectly sized mouthful. Try using this pasta in a carbonara pasta bake with meat and vegetables. Rigatoni is a large tube noodle that is wider than penne and cut short and straight.

While many of us prepare pasta by boiling the noodles and coating them with sauce, anyone who bakes pasta must first boil their noodles until they are halfway cooked, then finish them off in the oven. This key cooking difference sets both styles apart.