Chicken macaroni bake
This chicken macaroni bake is an easy and yummy way to use up leftover grilled, barbecued or roasted chicken. You can use your homemade tomato sauce if you like, but if you don’t have any in your fridge or freezer, just follow the first part to create the sauce. This sauce can be made well ahead – then it only takes 20 minutes to finish off the dish in the oven. Gluten-free pasta can be used for this recipe too. Serve it with a crispy salad.
Ingredients
Method
- First make the sauce: Chop the onion, garlic, celery and carrot. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then sauté the chopped vegetables. Add the marjoram and tomato purée, stir for a minute, then add the passata and the cherry tomatoes. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Cook for 15 minutes or until tender, then process it with a hand-held blender until you ger a thick, silky sauce.
- Meanwhile, cook the macaroni pasta according to the packet instructions. Add the green beans to the pasta for the last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain and keep warm.
- Shred the chicken meat into small pieces.
- Mix the sauce with chicken, then with the macaroni and green beans. Stir through the Parmesan. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Transfer the mixture to an ovenproof dish.
- Drain the mozzarella and tear it into small chunks. Scatter these on top of pasta.
- Put the dish in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted and it’s golden.
- Serve it with a crispy salad.