Chicken Kale Bake

The other night I decided to try something a little different. I have been on a Kale kick, so I found this recipe for a Chicken Kale Bake. All the ingredients sounded good, so I grabbed a rotisserie chicken on my way home and began dinner....

With the help of my husband, we got everything mixed, sautéed, shredded and boiled in no time at all (he is a great Sous Chef for the record). As we were mixing things together Scott stated that he thinks its calling for way too much lemon zest. I told him to just do it and follow the recipe. So we added everything EXACTLY as the recipe called for, mixed it together and threw it in the oven. It looked good... After it was done baking we all dished up and sat down to eat dinner. Kimmie was the first to taste it and shouted "It taste like fruit loop noodles"! She is also a very picky eater, so I was the next to try it... It indeed tasted like fruit loop noodles. Scott stated "I told you it was too much lemon zest" and my brother who is a human garbage can and eats anything and everything said "you know I don't complain about food, but it does taste like fruit loop noodles".

After we all laughed and choked this down (no one went back for seconds), we all agreed that this not a recipe that will be made in our house again!

Overall this was a: Pintrest FAIL

Chicken & Kale Bake

Ingredients

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 3/4 pound large pasta shells
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large yellow onion, diced medium
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bunches kale (1 1/2 pounds), tough stems and ribs removed, leaves coarsely chopped
• 2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken (from 1/2 rotisserie chicken)
• 1 container (48 ounces) part-skim ricotta
• 3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
• 3/4 cup Parmesan, grated (2 1/4 ounces)

Directions

1. Step 1

   Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain; return to pot. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is beginning to soften, 4 minutes. Add kale, cover, and cook until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer to pot with pasta.

2. Step 2

   Stir in chicken, ricotta, lemon zest, and 1/2 cup Parmesan; season with salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; top with 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake until top is golden, 30 minutes.

 

 

Recipe courtesy of: http://www.marthastewart.com/862208/chicken-and-kale-casserole?czone=food/chicken-recipes/favorite-chicken-recipes&center=897845&gallery=894534&slide=862208