In collaboration with Bertolli – A Taste of the Mediterranean.
Pasta has got to be one of those ultimate comfort foods, wouldn’t you agree? It’s a remarkably versatile ingredient, inexpensive and quick to cook too, so you’re never more than a few minutes from a steaming hot bowl of indulgent carbohydrates.
I find it fascinating how the various types of pasta – spaghetti, fusilli, linguine, ravioli – are all prepared with the same basic ingredients but their different shapes mean they taste vastly different from each other and therefore suit different sauces. For instance, spaghetti suits something really simple like Italian chef Gennaro Contaldo’s simple tomato sauce recipe.
I’m a big fan of fusilli, though, the little spirals of pasta hold creamy sauces absolutely perfectly. I cook this type of pasta so often my youngest calls it ‘normal’ pasta. It’s the pasta against which all other pastas are compared.
In true Italian style I like to start my pasta dishes with fresh ingredients – fresh vegetables and herbs, good quality olive oil and, if I am to be honest, I cook with butter!
Italian brand Bertolli have been producing olive oil since the late 1800s and their olive oil spreads have become a staple part of the UK diet, bringing a little bit of the Mediterranean sunshine to our plates.
Bertolli have recently launched a new product in their range – Bertolli with Butter. This butter and olive oil blend gives you all the flavour of butter, but with 45% less saturated fat than cooking with butter alone.
It is well known that Italians tend to be leaner than our UK and American friends. An active lifestyle and healthy diet are key components to this.
Olive oil is the preferred fat, as well as lean meat (such as chicken and fish) and plenty of vegetables and pasta. They also like to keep fit with a moderate amount of exercise such a stroll in the park before lunch. Italians aren’t known for spending ages in the gym, in fact, they’re apparently as exercise shy as the Brits are, but over a quarter of their journeys are made by foot. They walk, a lot. How could you not want to with all that fine weather?!
Unfortunately, the Mediterranean sunshine seems to be avoiding my island home in the North Sea, so although I spend a lot of time walking, I also spend at least a half an hour of my day doing a cardio or strength training exercise.
The other day I attended a fantastic Tank Built Conditioning Camp for Women in a local village hall. I had my first play with kettle bells (pictured above), and I was flipping a 120 kg truck tyre over. It was a rather satisfying experience and I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet other like-minded women.
Tip: carbohydrates make a great post-workout meal as they replenish depleted glycogen and glucose.
With strength training also comes the need for extra protein to help repair and build muscle. For lunch, after my morning bootcamp session, I adapted Gennaro’s simple cherry tomato sauce recipe to include chicken breast and a bit of low fat cream cheese.
I found that the Bertolli with Butter was a pleasure to cook with. It saves having to buy both olive oil and butter to cook with, and it melted and sizzled fairly nicely in the pan.
After following the instructions for Gennaro’s recipe I stirred in some low fat cream cheese and some cubed grilled chicken breasts. This was stirred through some cooked fusilli, sprinkled with my favourite sharp cheddar and baked for 25 minutes until golden and bubbly.
Served with some fresh bread this made a rather satisfying meal.
To prepare this recipe you will need to visit the Bertolli website for the simple cherry tomato sauce recipe. You can also find Bertolli on Twitter and Facebook.
What’s your favourite way to prepare pasta? Do you prefer it with butter like my youngest son or olive oil, like my daughter does?
Creamy Chicken & Cherry Tomato Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 300 grams dried fusilli pasta
- 1 batch cherry tomato sauce see Bertolli website for recipe
- 180 grams cream cheese
- 160 grams grilled chicken breast
- splash full fat milk if needed
- 100 grams mature cheddar cheese
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C/ 170 C fan.
- Prepare the pasta according to the packet instructions.
- Prepare the Gennaro - Bertolli simple cherry tomato sauce as directed. You can find the recipe on the Bertolli website - link in text above.
- Towards the end of the cooking time stir in the cream cheese and cubed chicken. Allow to simmer for a few minutes to reduce into a nice, thick sauce. Add a splash of milk if you want a more liquid sauce.
- Drain the past and stir in the sauce. Spoon into a large casserole dish and sprinkle with grated cheddar.
- Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbly.
Environmental Information
Click here for the nutritional information for this recipe.
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Disclaimer: this recipe post was commissioned by Bertolli. This is a paid post.
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Mmm this looks so good. I’m not the biggest pasta eater. but it is my sons and husbands absolute favourite! They adore it!
Sounds really delicious and full of flavours. Will most definitely try this recipe.
Oh wow this looks amazing mmmm could just eat this
Oh my, this looks absolutely yummy! My little guy would love this! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
This pasta dish looks so nice. I just love pasta, but eat way too much of it
Amazing blog! I am subscribing right now! Love your recipes and photography!!
Thanks for sharing!
Dominika
We love pasta recipes here and this looks delicious!
This looks lovely, I love pasta, so will be adding this to my menu x
We love pasta dishes and this look like a straight forward tasty recipe that can easily be prepared when we are short on time
Oh wow this looks so yummy, I have been enjoying a lot of pasta bakes lately but none with chicken so need to give this recipe a try. I love Bertolli butter too
Love this recipe, sounds so tasty
I love his recipe, simple yet tasty. I plan to give that a go sometime soon.
Your blog photography is always so gorgeous – very appetising!
Now this looks like my kind of comforting pasta dish. The sauce sounds delicious, and really easy to make too.
I love cherry tomatoes!
A dish i will always look for. Haha. You captured it so mouthwatering and simply yummy. 🙂
What a delicious looking dish! Can’t wait to try it!
this is such a simple dish which I now realise I’ve been doing wrong fir so many years! My boys would love this so I’m putting it on my menu for the week.
We have often cooked with something similar although historically we prefer olive oil. The recipe sounds delicious and I like the addition of the chicken and low fat cheese. x
Oh wow that looks so lovely and delicious! I love pasta dishes
This sounds delicious! I couldn’t agree more that pasta is the perfect comfort food, and it’s so simple to prepare.
This looks so delicious – I love pasta so much. Your photos are just stunning! I am hungry now 🙂 Kaz x
This is perfect for our weekend brunch n then continue as weeknight meal too. Great recipe.
That looks utterly delicious. I must admit that fusili is also “normal pasta” in our house too 🙂
We love pasta here too, and fusilli is probably the one I buy most too. For little children it’s the easiest to get on a fork I think. This looks delicious. I rarely add cream cheese because I never have it in the house any more
Oh this sounds absolutely delicious and really easy to make, I will definitely give this a try! xxx
Another amazing recipe your blog makes me want to spend more time in the kitchen making delicious foods xx
I must admit I cook with oil and butter all the time, but usually just splosh some oil in and drop in a pat of butter, letting them melt together. I’ve never come across this olive oil butter mix but I’d look out for it now.
This looks so, so delicious. Growing up in an italian household, pasta has always been a firm staple dish, but one of my favourite dishes is pasta bake! This one sounds incredible. xx
What a hearty and delicious pasta bake. The Bertolli with butter sounds great , I need to try this.
I love pasta bakes and this sounds and looks amazing! I’ve not made a pasta bake in a few months, I’ll be making this one soon! Great photography by the way!
I adore pasta. I could eat it all day, everyday- so having a few new recipes to try out is always helpful 😉
Wow this sounds absolutely delicious! Definitely going to have to try this one during the week! 🙂 xxx
I’ve never had chicken pasta bake before, only tuna, so this would mix things up a bit!
This really does look delicious! I adore pasta bakes but have to admit I usually buy a jar. There is only one I actually make myself . Will have to give this one a go
OOh now this is comfort food for me and it is one dish I love to cook, though I do add either fresh chillis or a bit of tabasco in x
This sounds so simple yet looks incredibly delicious. My son would love this and it’s a nice alternative to the usual tuna pasta bake that I make.
We loved baked pasta. Always a family favorite!
Wow! The flavors in this sound out.of.this.world. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe, will definitely have to make it ASAP!
I just love how easy and simple this recipe is! I love baked pasta in my opinion it’s a perfect family weeknight dinner full of great flavors!
This recipe contains all of my favorite things!! I love Bertolli … need to find that with butter sauce! … hmmm
I’d love to try strength training, it sounds great fun!
LOVE the look and sound of your pasta bake, I will be saving this recipe and trying it at some point in the near future. My children absolutely love pasta bakes and this one sounds perfect, thank you for sharing with us 🙂 xx
my dinners are getting so much inspired thanks to your yummy recipes! thanks!
I wish we had the weather so I could walk more! I definitely would. This looks really yummy x
I don’t make pasta often, but when I do I always end up using butter and olive oil so that sounds perfect!
It really is a fantastic blend. I’ve become a fan right away!
Ohh definitely going to have to give it a try then! Eekk exciting. x
This is just so awesome and amazing.. i could definitely eat it off right off the screen
Aw thank you!!
This looks really tasty and I can’t believe how easy it is to make – must give it a go!
It really is so simple to make. Let me know how you get on if you do make it!
Hee hee. “Normal pasta”. I don’t think we use one particular type to count it as our “normal”.
This is a great recipe! I love pasta bake because the whole family will eat it (and you can easily hide veggies in it).
Pasta names are great for hiding veggies, for sure!
I would love to adapt this as a veggie version with Quorn chicken instead as I love a creamy tomato sauce. Do you have any tips for reducing the alkaline as I can’t have too much acid.
Quorn would work too, but I am afraid I don’t know about the alkaline question.
Sounds so creamy and something I would need in my kitchen. I would love to try it out.
It’s really quick to make too. Hardly any effort. 🙂
Yum, I love a good pasta bake. This will be perfect for dinner tomorrow. Thanks for sharing!
Aw I hope you like it! 🙂
This looks nice! I also cook with butter; it just helps the flavours develop even better than oil, doesn’t it?
It does, although oil does have its uses 🙂
What a quick recipe I need to try on those busy days! Thx 🙂
My pleasure!
Oh my gosh even just looking at that is making my mouth water – I do need to try some. x
Heehee, my work here is done 😉
This recipie looks lovely. I think my daughter would like it so I’ll have to have a go. Well done for flipping that tyre over. That’s amazing. I love kettlebells x
Thanks 🙂 I’m a new fan of kettle bells too!
Looks yummy. Craving some pasta after seeing this
Nothing beats a good bowl of pasta!
oh wow the kids love pasta so this would be a huge hit here
My kids love pasts too 🙂
Pasta dishes are really filling. This looks delicious x
Thanks 🙂
This looks so yummy I love pasta bakes with tomato
Tomato certainly works well in a pasta bake, for sure!
This dish looks so easy to make and tasty too. Proper comfort food. My husband will love this so I have bookmarked it
Aw let me know what you think if you make it! 🙂
I want to dive in your pasta bake 🙂 Perfect weekday winner
Thank you! 🙂
This is my idea of comfort food. Have to try this 🙂 x
Nothing beats pasta for comfort food!
The pasta looks like proper comforting warm food for winter! I have used bertolli for ages because it tastes really good but not heard of the new product!
It’s brand new, just out on the shelves now. You should definitely check it out!
This looks absolutely gorgeous, I am a huge pasta fan, I would actually eat it for every meal if I didn’t think it would make me pile on the pounds! Xx
Me too!
This looks delicious, we love pasta in our house and this looks like a nice easy recipe to do and pop in the oven. I will be bookmarking this one. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Aw thanks 🙂
Oh wow this looks so good. I love Gennaro! This Bertolli sounds great too. x
Thanks, he’s an inspiring chef isn’t he, and the Bertolli with butter is fantastic!
I am craving pasta now after seeing this delicious dish!
Ha! Pasta is the best! 🙂
I love pasta dishes and this looks great. I will have to look for that butter…I am in Canada so hope they have it. Olive oil an butter together…great!!
I wonder if they have it Canada? Let me know!
Oh I do love a good pasta bake. This looks like real hearty comfort food. We always buy berlotti but usually just use it as a spread. Great post!
Thanks Emma 🙂
This pasta bake looks so delicious with the golden colour contrasting with the tomatoes! I must stop reading blogs when hungry. We call this normal pasta too, the children love it.
Glad to hear we are not alone with the normal pasta!
This looks so tasty! I usually go for olive oil but you’ve definitely tempted me to the butter side now!
There’s a time and a place for butter or olive oil.. Or both together!
Bertolli with Butter!!!!! Am I dreaming! This is amazing! I can’t wait to find this at my store! I am too fascinated with all things pasta. I love how there are so many different shapes to choose from! Nothing like a bowl of carbs! 🙂
There’s nothing indeed! 🙂
Ooo this is something my fella’s mum would absolutely love! I’m hungry just from reading.
You should make it for her! 🙂