Kavey's Chicken Tarragon Pasta Bake
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 250 g dried macaroni-style pasta
- 50 g white breadcrumbs (we used Panko)
- 300 g leftover roast chicken (chopped small)
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 40 g plain flour
- 600 ml chicken stock (slightly warmed)
- 175 ml double cream
- 50 g parmesan or other strong hard cheese (grated)
- 2 tsp French mustard
- 2 tsp dried tarragon
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C (390F).
- Put the pasta on to cook. When ready, drain, rinse and set aside. While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce:
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Keep the heat low to medium, to avoid browning.
- Add the chicken stock and cream and stir thoroughly.
- Add the cheese, mustard and tarragon. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Cook for a further 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens a little.
- Once the sauce is ready, add the chicken and drained pasta and stir thoroughly.
- Transfer into an oven-proof casserole dish.
- Sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over the surface.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the crumbs on top are golden brown.
Notes
For the pasta, choose any of the small hollow tube shapes. We chose chifferi rigati by De Cecco, which are short ridged elbow-shaped tubes.
We like the tarragon flavour to be understated. If you like it strong, add an extra teaspoon or two of dried tarragon.