Baked Garlic Chicken & Mozzarella With Pasta * Fazoli's Copy

After dinner with Mom at Fazoli's, I altered a recipe from Taste of Home's "Country Chicken" cookbook, and this is the amazingly excellent result. Great for dinner parties and delicious for a week-night supper with the family all around the table!

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 8-12
• Yields: 1 13x9 pan

Ingredients

• 2  tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1⁄2 cup biscuit mix
• 2  tablespoons  grated parmesan cheese
• 1  teaspoon basil
• 1  teaspoon oregano
• 1⁄2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
• 4  boneless chicken breast halves
• 1  quart  home-made tomato sauce
• 1 (28 ounce) can  spaghetti sauce
• 3 -5  garlic cloves, minced (or pressed)
• 3  cups  shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 12  ounces linguine, cooked & drained (or fettucini)
• 1⁄2 cup parmesan cheese (set aside for later)

Directions

1. Preheat frying pan to medium high; preheat oven to 350. Grease 13x9 pan with 1 T. of the olive oil.
2. In a medium bowl, combine biscuit mix, Parmesan, basil, oregano, garlic and pepper.
3. Pull "tenders" from breast halves. Dredge all pieces in the biscuit mixture; pressing it on as necessary.
4. Add remaining oil to hot frying pan, and brown the chicken pieces, turning to brown all sides. Remove pan from heat.
5. While meat is browning, mix tomato and spaghetti sauces; add garlic & more herbs if you wish. (I'm very heavy-handed with the basil & oregano.).
6. Spread a layer of cooked pasta over the bottom (about 1/3 of total pasta) of the 13x9 pan. Sprinkle with 1/4 of the Mozzarella cheese. Spread about a cup of the sauce over this. Repeat twice. (You should have about a cup of cheese left.)
7. Lay the chicken pieces over the last layer of pasta-cheese-sauce. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the meat, sprinkle on the remaining Mozzarella.
8. Pop in the oven for 30 minutes; then sprinkle on reserved Parmesan cheese, bake for 10 more minutes.
9. SERVE: A small green salad and a few slices of crisp apple or orange or a handful of grapes are delicious accompaniments.
10. PLANNED OVERS #1: Whatever meat is left, cut into bite-size pieces, mix thoroughly into remaining pasta, cheese and sauce. At the next meal, you may need to add a few drops of water or sauce to juice it up, but reheated--this works beautifully.
11. PLANNED OVERS #2: If no meat is left-over, spread pasta in the bottom of a greased casserole, lay some pepperoni slices over the top, sprinkle with a bit of Cheddar cheese, and bake until bubbly. Sounds like SUPPER!
12. SUBSTITUTIONS: Add some chili powder to the sauce (try some salsa in there), minced (dried) onions, lots of black olives, and you have a Taco-y flavored dish instead!