Celebrity chef Maggie Beer has offered her simple crowd-pleasing recipe for the perfect chicken pasta bake.
The Australian cookbook author shared a video on social media showing how she made the easy winter favourite dish – and it’s perfect for the whole family to enjoy.
To make the comforting meal, the restaurateur used chicken mince, penne, pumpkin, verjuice, onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme, tomato pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan, and parsley.
‘I’m not a pasta person all the time but if I’m having pasta, I want it to be good,’ Maggie said.
Celebrity chef Maggie Beer (pictured) has offered her simple crowd-pleasing recipe for the perfect chicken pasta bake
To make chicken pasta bake, Maggie used chicken mince, penne, pumpkin, verjuice, onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme, tomato pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan, and parsley
The first thing she did was cooked a packet of wholemeal penne pasta until al dente, drained and placed in a large tray with extra virgin oil stirred through with a pinch of sea salt.
Next she baked even-size pieces of pumpkin coated in olive oil and salt in the oven for up to 25 minutes at 225 degrees Celsius.
In the meantime, Maggie prepared the tomato-based sauce mixed with chicken mince and skin.
‘Now this is made with good chicken mince and it has skin it in so it also has fat,’ she said.
Maggie said you can use whatever ingredients you have in your home like red onion instead of brown onion or replace chicken with pork or lamb mince.
In the same frying pan over high heat, she fried off the chicken, using a whisk to break up the mince. She said a wooden spoon would leave ‘clumps’ of mince when cooking
To assemble the pasta dish, she mixed the penne with the sautéed onion, garlic and herbs, followed by the tomato pasta sauce
Over low heat, she sautéed the onion slowly until it’s translucent, then she added the garlic and fresh herbs. Then she transferred them to a bowl and set aside.
In the same frying pan over high heat, she fried off the chicken, using a whisk to break up the mince.
‘I used a whisk rather than a wooden spoon so it’s not clumping,’ she said.
‘When I’m frying I get a different flavour. I get a more pronounced flavour. And because it’s a chicken mince, it needs hardly any cooking. I just add a bit of salt.’
To assemble the pasta dish, she mixed the penne with the sautéed onion, garlic and herbs, followed by the tomato pasta sauce.
After de-glazing roast pumpkin pieces with verjuice, she stirred half of it into the pasta bake
She topped the pasta bake with mozzarella cheese and parmesan and placed into the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for just 15 minutes
Once stirred through, she added the chicken mince, including its juices, and mixed the ingredients together until well combined.
After de-glazing the roast pumpkin pieces with verjuice, she stirred half of it into the pasta bake.
‘The pumpkin will squash a bit because it’s beautifully cooked,’ she said, adding: ‘The other half of pumpkin will go on top.
She topped the pasta bake with mozzarella cheese and parmesan and placed into the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for just 15 minutes.
‘This needs very little cooking because every ingredient in here is already cooked. I just want the mozzarella to go golden,’ she said.
Maggie served the dish with fresh parsley, a drizzle of olive oil and cracked pepper on top.