Here's a casserole that my family thought was delicious. It has something for everyone. Protein...carbs....dairy....it just pleased the whole bunch! The nice thing about this is that you can change the cheese to suit you...leave out the meat if you want....switch the pasta. (Although I like using any of the "corkscrew" type pasta because I think they hold on to the sauce better...but that's just me and my weirdness talking.) I guess the best way to describe this is a macc & cheese dish with chicken added. We just call it yummy!
Four Cheese Chicken
Pasta Casserole
8 ounces radiatore pasta
3 cups cooked chicken, sliced
4 tablespoons butter – divided use
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups whole milk
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese – shredded
1 cup Gruyere – shredded
1 cup Havarti – shredded
1 cup Parmesan – shredded, divided use
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Dash nutmeg
½ cup Italian bread crumbs
Dash Paprika
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and pour into large bowl.
Grease a 9x13 casserole dish. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring until bubble. Gradually stir in the milk and continue cooking, stirring, until thick. Add the cheddar, Gruyere, Havarti and half of the Parmesan cheeses. Stir until cheese melts. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour over pasta and mix. Gently stir in cooked, sliced chicken and pour mixture into prepared casserole dish.
Combine bread crumbs, remaining ½ cup Parmesan cheese. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter and pour over bread crumb mixture. Stir well then sprinkle over pasta mixture in casserole dish.
Bake for 25 minutes until bubble then turn over to 400 degrees and bake for another 5 minutes to brown the bread crumbs.
Serves 4 - 6
Let's get going! (Pepper?? Where are you???)
Melt the butter then throw in the
flour and cook that for a bit then...
Add the milk and stir until it thickens.
The cheeses I used were Parmesan,
sharp Cheddar, Gruyere and Havarti.
Throw that in the thickened milk mixture.
Then add the salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Pour that over the COOKED pasta.
Add the cooked, sliced chicken.
Stir together the remaining parm,
bread crumbs and melted butter.
Sprinkle it over the pasta mixture and...
...bake it!! Creamy and delicious!
