Roasted Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

The kids love chicken fettuccine alfredo. My oldest daughter almost always orders it when we go out to any Italian restaurant. We can’t always eat out so I make their favorite with our own twists at home. This recipe feeds the five in our family. You can cook and add more chicken if you'd like but I find that this dish is great when you find yourself low on the meat and want something that doesn't require so much meat.

• 4 large chicken breasts
  
• 1 lb fettuccine pasta
  
• 1 jar alfredo sauce
  
• 2 cups frozen or fresh spinach
  
• Salt and pepper
  

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the chicken breasts in an oven safe baking pan. I use my glass baking pans. Add salt and pepper to taste and drizzle olive oil onto the chicken. Cook the chicken breasts for about 20-25 minutes or until done. While waiting for the chicken breasts to cook, start a pot of water for the fettuccine pasta. Find the largest pot you have and fill it at least 3/4 full of water. Bring it to a boil. Once the water has started to boil, add the fettuccine. Stir immediately so there is less of a chance of the noodles sticking. To help, you might want to break the fettuccine noodles in half before adding them to the boiling water. Wait for the water to boil again after you add the noodles and then turn down the heat a little. Let it cook for about ten minutes, until it’s al dente.

While you are waiting for the fettuccine noodles to cook, you can warm up the alfredo sauce. I buy already made alfredo sauce. But you can make your own alfredo sauce too. Warm the sauce on low until just heated. Avoid boiling the sauce as it makes a mess on the bottom of your pan. You won’t need it boiling to make this dish.

Chop up the fresh spinach if you’re using that and cook it. If you’re using frozen or canned spinach, then you can heat that at this time.

If you have a broiler (or broil setting on your oven) you can broil the chicken for the last five minutes to get a brown skin. It's not a necessity though. When the chicken is done, pull it out of the oven. Let it stand for five minutes before you slice it into chunks. Drain the noodles and place them into a large heat-proof bowl. Add the alfredo sauce, chopped spinach, the chopped chicken and stir to mix the sauce into the fettuccine. Add salt and pepper and drizzle some olive oil onto the mixture. Serve immediately. You can add some freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese if you’d like. I also recommend some herbs such as rosemary or thyme with this dish.