[theme music]
Pastina may be the
most kid-friendly pasta,
because it's small and
comes in fun shapes.
I'm going to mix it with
sauteed 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 throw
in just a little bit.
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 you 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.
Put it on high.
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.
I absolutely loved it.
It's one of the ultimate
comfort foods for us.
You could smell it all
over the house too.
It's perfect.
And what kid doesn't
love a cheesy pasta dish?
They always do.
I'll 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,
so I'm 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.
All right.
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 is just about ready.
And let's check the pasta.
The pastina should be ready.
And you just want to
cook it until it's
a little bit under al dente.
Five minutes or so,
and it's ready to go.
Perfect.
Pasta is ready.
Now,
I'm going to add the chicken,
the onions, and the garlic.
Just get all of
those onions there.
That smells good.
And a little bit goes a
long way with all of this.
I'm going to 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.
You've got to add some tomatoes.
Again, color and also
the tomatoes kelp
keep the pasta from sticking
to each other as well.
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.
Gosh, look at the mozzarella
all melted in there.
Oh, so good.
Now, I just want to put it
in my buttered baking dish.
So I'm just going to
put it all in there.
This is the secret on top.
I use store-bought bread crumbs.
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
Parmigiano-Reggiano 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 had a little bit of
soft butter right over the top.
And the bread crumbs
absorb the butter
and that creates a
wonderfully golden crust,
crispy, and kind of buttery.
It's so good.
I'm going to bake this at
400 degrees for 30 minutes.
[music playing]
