Chicken and Pasta a la Ruby

Chicken and Pasta a la Ruby is a dish that was inspired by something my husband once had at Ruby Tuesday. It was as if Chicken Parmesan and baked Ziti had a baby and covered it with alfredo sauce to keep it warm at night. This is comfort food to the max and definitely fills your belly on a cold night. This dish does take a little bit of effort but it's something you can do the morning of and still have it taste wonderful after you bake it. You can easily make this a quick dish by buying jared sauces but I tend to make my own. In the ingredients, I've said to use your favorite jarred pasta sauce but to make a quick sauce for this dish all I do is sautee some onions and garlic, add in a big can of crushed tomatoes, some oregano and parsly, let it simmer to thicken a bit and I have sauce that took very little effort.

What You Need:

Parmesan crusted chicken
1 jar favorite tomato pasta sauce
1lb ziti shapped pasta
4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 c Parmesan cheese
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs flour
salt and pepper

What To Do:

Make the parmesan crusted chicken as directed and set aside to cool.








Meanwhile bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cooked the ziti noodles until just barely done. You want them to have a slight "crunch" to them because they will continue to cook and absorb the sauce when you bake it in the oven. When the pasta is done, drain it and stir it together with the tomato pasta sauce. Transfer the pasta to a 13x9 pan with deep sides.



In a sauce pan, melt the butter together with the olive oil over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add in the garlic and cook it for about 30 seconds or until it's fragarant. Stir in the flour and cook for another minute to remove some of the flour taste. Slowly whisk in the milk so that you don't get lumps. Once the milk is all combined, turn the heat up to medium high and bring it just to a simmer so that it begins to thicken. Slowly whisk in the parmesan cheese and continue cooking until the cheese is all melted and you have alfredo sauce.



Pour about 2/3 of the sauce on top of the pasta. Place your parmesan crusted chicken on top of that and drizzle the rest of the sauce over the chicken. Bake in a preheat 350 oven for 30 minutes or until browned and bubbly. Top with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. If made early in the day and cold, bake for 1 hour.