Baked Pastina Casserole

It's time for some much-needed updating! I've been doing plenty of cooking, but have found that I'm a little lazy about updating...

This dish is from Giada's Everyday Pasta cookbook. It turned out well and is definitely a nice week-night go-to meal. It was also great as left-overs!

Baked Pastina Casserole
Recipe Courtesy of Giada DeLaurentiis from Everyday Pasta

Ingredients...

1 cup pastina (or any small pasta - I used fusilli/corkscrews)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 small onion)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut in small pieces, plus more for buttering the baking dish

Directions...

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees farenheit

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain the pasta and transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onion and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onion is soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Add the chicken mixture to the bowl with the drained pasta, then add the canned tomatoes and their juice, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.

Butter an 8x8x2-inch baking dish and spread the pasta in the prepared dish. In a small bowl, mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.