Stretch a Chicken (4) – Spicy Chicken Pasta

5 from 1 vote

Surprisingly chickeny considering how little there is in there

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Total Time40

Course: Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: English

Diet: Low Calorie

Diet: Freezes Well, Nut Free

Other: Freezes Well

Servings:

Calories: 552kcal

Author: Thrifty Lesley

Cost: 30p

Metric - US Customary

Chop the onion and saute in a little oil until soft.
150 g onion, 2 tsp oil
Add garlic, freshly grated ginger and a chopped chilli. Include the membrane and seeds if you like it hot, remove them if not. Don't forget to wash your hands after handling raw chilli!
1 chilli, 1 clove garlic, 2 tsp fresh ginger
Put the flour and milk in a cold saucepan and heat gently, whisking, until it thickens. Season with salt and pepper and a generous dollop of any mustard, The mustard, strangely, makes it taste creamier, and cheesey, even tho there is none in it.
400 ml milk, 4 tblsps flour, 2 tsp mustard
Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente, we don’t want the pasta too cooked or the bake will be soggy.
320 g pasta
If you are not using chicken that's already cooked, cut it into small pieces and cook it in a separate pan until cooked through.
120 g cooked chicken
Mix the onion and the drained pasta into the sauce, add the chicken. Stir it all up and put in an ovenproof dish.

Make up the stuffing as per the instructions on the pack. Form into balls with roughed up edges for more crispy bits and drizzle with a little oil.
50 g stuffing mix

When you are ready to eat, bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes, along with the stuffing balls, until the top browns, or microwave for a few minutes until piping hot all the way through. Gas 6 / 400 °F/ 200 °C / 180 °C

Priced at Aldi, July 2022

This will freeze well, so can be stashed away as a lovely home made ready meal

Pasta bake variations

Any meat could be used in place of the chicken, so pork, beef or lamb. If you have any lovely home made gravy using the meat juices left from when you had the chicken roast, that would add delicious flavour stirred into the bake.
Any veg could be used to go with it, plain or roasted.
The mustard could be varied to give a different flavour
Serve with a few fine chopped rings of onion, soak it in milk first to take off that very raw flavour
If you have any herbs available, they would work well, finely chopped, scattered over, or mixed in
Flavour the sauce with some curry spices or a bit of paste
Fry off some mushrooms and stir those through the uncooked bake
Flavour the sauce with some tomato purée
Scatter over a few flaked almonds or chopped nuts, or top with some fried peanuts after it has come out of the oven
If you don't have any stuffing mix, or don't want to use it, scatter some breadcrumbs over the top of the bake (before baking) to get the same kind of crunch.

Roast chicken, 400g chicken, gravy, with stuffing, 4 portions
Risotto, 140g chicken, onion, half the the stock, some vegetables butter and parmesan, 4 portions
Pizza, 117g chicken, tomato sauce, maybe some stuffing, 4 portions
Spicy Pasta Bake, white sauce, 120g chicken, onion, spices, stuffing, 4 portions, this recipe
Tart, 100g chicken, onions, sweetcorn, couple of eggs, no cheese, stuffing, 4 portions
Pie, 100g chicken, some of the gravy, onion, maybe some sweetcorn or mushrooms, maybe some stuffing, 4 portions
Soup with the remaining half of the stock, red lentils, onion, spices, 4 portions

Poached chicken
Spaghetti with olives, sultanas and lemon 140g chicken
Oaty, nutty, seedy chicken and mushroom crumble 140g chicken
Chicken and rice salad – red peppers from a jar, peas, gherkins, raisins 140g chicken and some of the stock
Chicken and something Pizza, sweetcorn, onion, red pepper, mozzarella and cheddar 140g chicken
Coronation Chicken Jacket Potato – 140g chicken
Red Cabbage Waldorf with apple, walnut and dressing – 140g chicken
Chicken Tart with Butternut Squash, Lemon Zest & Parmesan 140g chicken

this comes out at a total of 28 portions, which is amazing!