Today it’s time for a delicious and simple pasta casserole! This time with a few surprising flavors: blue cheese, crispy chicken and spinach. What more could you possibly want?
Chicken and I don’t always get along, but after making these delicious crispy fillets, I can honestly say I’m craving a few more! I keep pushing myself to develop new recipes that make me appreciate certain ingredients, and chicken is one of them!
Recently I started thinking about what I can eat that is healthy to go with my workouts. I finally started working out, after I was surprised with a sports device in my living room! It takes some getting used to, but I notice that I need good and healthy food again, even though I don’t always eat unhealthy. Since the lockdowns I haven’t been completely healthy with my diet, and I have to admit that a sausage or a portion of fries occasionally goes well with it, haha.
And as always: my father and Luis say I should make this more often, but with this heat in Spain now it doesn’t seem like a good plan to me! Let’s get started!
Ingredients
Crispy chicken
- 1 chicken breast (500 gr)
- 80 grams of flour
- 1 tablespoon thyme
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- salt
- pepper
- 2 eggs
- panko
Filling oven dish
- 200 g pasta
- handful of grated cheese
- 180 gr blue cheese
- 125 grams of fresh spinach
- pinch of nutmeg
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
- butter
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Fry the spinach in the pan, along with a little olive oil, lemon, salt and nutmeg, until the spinach wilts. Grease an oven dish with butter. Drain the pasta and let it drain well.
Place a frying pan on the stove, pour in a layer of sunflower oil and let it heat up slowly. Cut the chicken lengthwise into strips about 2 cm wide. Sprinkle these strips with a little sea salt and set them aside. Beat the two eggs in a deep plate. In a second plate, mix the flour with the salt, pepper, thyme and garlic powder. Use a third plate for the panko.
First dip the chicken in the flour with one hand, then through the eggs with the other hand. Use your dry hand to cover the egg with the panko. Now it can go into the pan. Repeat this process until all the chicken is breaded and in the pan. Let all the pieces fry well so that the panko becomes crispy! Remove your chicken strips from the oil and place them on a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain the excess fat.
Fill the baking dish with the cooked pasta. Mix in a little grated cheese, a few knobs of butter, salt and pepper. Place the spinach on top of the pasta. Cut the crispy chicken into pieces and place on top of the spinach. Then sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese over it and then pieces of blue cheese.
Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top and put the whole thing in the oven for about 15 minutes and serve with a fresh green salad!
Voilà, another new way to make a pasta casserole!
The result
You can’t make it much easier on yourself! This is really a delicious dish to enjoy together, especially if you like cheese and pasta like I do!
I considered making a bechamel to make the dish a little heavier, but Luis said it wasn’t a good idea and it might take away all the flavor. That’s what sometimes surprises me, how smart Luis actually is at cooking, even though he doesn’t often do it all by himself. And I’m so happy that I can always cook for him so well, because that just makes me feel good. Because of his job, I also think he should eat well. Not too much, but he just needs to have healthy food!
Well friends, I would say, try this dish delicious, comfort food guaranteed!
