Quick & Easy Chicken Penne Timpano

Quick & Easy Chicken Penne Timpano. Quickly turn leftover pasta and tomato sauce into a delicious “pasta pie” using frozen puff pastry with this simple, easy recipe.

Chicken Penne Timpano

Originally published on September 15 2008.

I am not a big fan of leftovers as my friends and neighbours can happily attest. This recipe however, is one of my favorite ways to stretch a leftover pasta dinner into a second and quite delicious meal.

Timpano is a traditional Italian dish comprised of many components. From boiled eggs to salami to meatballs to pasta to tomato sauce all baked in pastry a timpano drum shaped baking vessel.

Penne pasta is best for this recipe but you could use other substantially sized pasta as well like rigatoni.

Some of you may remember it as the centrepiece dish of the 1996 film “Big Night” about 2 brothers and their failing Italian restaurant.

An easy twist on an Italian classic.

This much simpler version of a timpano or “pasta pie” still has some very good flavours incorporated into it. I have made it on occasion from simple leftover pasta and sauce.

Marinara Sauce

Using frozen, pre-made puff pastry adds to the easy preparation. It also dresses up a dish that is fit to feed even the most discriminating dinner guests!

Puff pastry frozen sheets often come rolled in parchment paper for easy transfer to a baking sheet. and easy clean up.

I do like to prepare this timpano with all of the components cold. I prepare the pasta and sauce in advance and let them cool down before using them. This will greatly aid the crust baking well on the bottom.

You can also blind bake the bottom crust for about 10-15 minutes before adding the filling. I use parchment paper and some baking weights. This also greatly helps the bottom crust of the Timpano.

Chicken Penne Timpano

To begin the timpano recipe you will need about 6 cups of cooked pasta with sauce. My favorite for this recipe is penne pasta with roasted fennel marinara sauce which was recently featured on my blog.

When fresh summer tomatoes are available, try making your own sauce from vine ripened tomatoes.

Alternatively just go ahead and use your favorite, especially if you have leftovers in the fridge.

Love great pasta?

If you can’t get enough of great pasta dinner recipes, please check out our collection of 20 Best Pasta Dinners!

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Quick Easy Chicken Penne Timpano

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Quick & Easy Chicken Penne Timpano - quickly turn leftover pasta and tomato sauce into a delicious "pasta pie" using frozen puff pastry with this simple, easy recipe.

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Ingredients

• 6 cups leftover pasta and tomato sauce
• 3 chicken breasts, grilled and cubed
• 2 sheets puff pastry, frozen
• 1/2 red pepper, roasted
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• 2 cups mozzarella, shredded
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves

Instructions

1. Roll out one sheet of the puff pastry and place in the bottom and sides of a 9×9 inch glass baking dish. You can blind bake this bottom crust for about 15 minutes, if you prefer.
2. Add half the pasta and sauce evenly over the bottom crust and top with the roasted red pepper, onion, mushrooms, chicken, mozzarella and spinach.
3. Top with the remaining half of the cooked pasta and sauce and the Parmesan cheese.
4. Top with the remaining sheet of puff pastry.
5. Brush the top with an egg wash of desired.
6. Cut four small slits in the top crust and bake for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees F, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 399Total Fat 16gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 80mgSodium 920mgCarbohydrates 30gFiber 4gSugar 5gProtein 35g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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