Did They Eat It?: Shells with Grilled Chicken and Mozzerella

My family is very wary of recipe titles.

They're certain that by only telling them the name of the recipe I'm serving,  I'm leaving out all the many things they hate to eat. So I can spring it on them just before dessert. "You like that? Guess what? It's PEOPLE! Surprise!"

But this recipe is pretty much what it says, except it  makes no mention of the tomatoes (thankfully that's a welcome  surprise for my family). It has a little something for everyone,  grilled chicken, tomatoes and cheese.  It's a really easy meal,  especially if you think to grill some extra chicken at a meal a couple  days earlier. I never do this because all of my brain cells are being occupied by Project: Keep The House Standing.

There's no heavy sauce to scare Logan under the stairs in the basement. Maddie likes  three out of the five main ingredients (depending on her level of PMS) and Max likes everything in  the dish, unless he's constipated. These are excellent odds for a happy dinner table.

This is the original recipe from Martha Stewart Everyday Food July/August 2007 issue, as you can see I use it quite a bit.

Here's the majority of what you'll need. I forgot to take a picture  of the two tablespoons of butter. But you remember butter right? It's  yellow, and a squared off rectangle shape? Really good on a cob of  corn? I also left the parmesean cheese in the refrigerator for this  picture. But that's it, that's all I forgot. I think.

The original recipe calls for four ounces of fresh mozzarella cut into cubes but the first time we made this Max declared fresh mozzarella entirely inedible. So we use low-fat regular mozzarella instead.

You'll grill the chicken and cut it up.
Cook your pasta and while it's cooking cut the grape tomatoes in half, cube the cheese and chop the parsley.
When the pasta's done cooking, save a bit of the water and drain the pasta. Then put everything back in the pan (including the butter and the parmesean cheese I forgot but you won't).

Add the reserved pasta water a bit at a time to make a sauce to coat the shells and Ta-Da!

However:

Did They Eat It?

Logan: It's simple, some might even say a little plain. So I love it!

Madison: I love almost everything in this dish. In  fact, I even love mozzarella on pizza but in this dish, it's weird.  I'll pick around and eat it but why can't we just have plain pasta with grilled chicken and cherry tomatoes all separate on a plate like  God intended? Why do you hate God? And Me?

Max: This is my favorite meal ever. Just don't tell  me there's parmesean cheese mixed in because I only like parmesean cheese on top of my food. Even though I just ate all of this dish and there's parmesean cheese in it. Shhhh.

Me: I like just about everything so there's no surprise I like this. It's easy to make, really delicious the next day and since everyone at the table likes it (reasonably well) it makes a pleasant meal. We all win.

Except Maddie who would rather everything on our dinner plates was separate but equal.

For the complete recipe please visit Martha.

Comments

[Sue]

Would it be gross without tomatoes? Because my children won't eat anything that even vaguely resembles a tomato. They have issues.

[nikki]

I love Everyday Food. Of course my kid doesn't eat anything that isn't a chicken nugget or pb&j.

[jessica]

Looks delish to me, but my husband LOATHES tomatoes. unless they have been cooked to all hell and made into sauce. My daughter hates "ball meetos", and only like "meeto wheels" (forgive her ignorance, she is two - what she means is she only likes very large tomatoes that have been sliced. Cherry/grape tomoatoes are more offensive than the dog eating a puzzle piece) So...um my long winded point was do you think it would be good if you skipped the tomatoes?

[Meg]

That looks delicious. It's definitely going in the recipe pile(notice I didn't say file? I literally have a pile of recipes waiting to be tested).
My daughter would love that. At just 11 months old she's already a picky eater. I'm in trouble.

[Pants]

This would still be good if you left the tomatoes out, or if you used a light tomato sauce instead of tomatoes. But not AS good...

Grilling the chicken is key, don't skip that part. It adds a lot.

[Sarah]

I'm totally going to do this with my fake chicken. simple and easy but looks delicious! maybe i'll even do it tonight!

[Karin]

Is that a Fiesta bowl I spy? It looks like a fabulous meal! Even more so since it's in my collection! HA!

[Erika]

That looks yummy! Mmm..maybe for next week's menu...

What's funny (to me, although not to my pocketbook), is that my 5 yr-old daughter currently can't stand any "regular" cheeses such as cheddar, muenster, semi-soft mozzarella--but loves feta, fresh mozzarella, and parmesan. Oy.

Oh, and cheese curds. Can you tell we're from Wisconsin?

[die Frau]

My husband loves anything grilled, and the rest seems so easy, that he might even make it himself. Or I'll end up doing everything but grilling the chicken, which still makes for a pretty even trade. Thanks!

p.s. Does Logan cook? I haven't read the blog long enough to know. If so, does he have the same inability to read cookbook directions, somehow thinking that I made up the recipe and only I can tell him how to do it, even when it's clear that I'm doing something else? Oh dear, they are so masculine yet helpless sometimes....

[sozzled]

yay! I love "did they eat it" recipes!

[ATLCheap]

Yum. This looks delicious, and my kids would definitely eat it. We'll have to try it next week.

[Cicely]

I make a similar dish, just without the parmesan and with ham in place of the chicken. And I serve it cold, and instead of butter and pasta water I drizzle it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Oh, and garlic salt.

And I let it rest in the fridge for a while to soak up the flavor before serving. It's a perfect summer salad, and great for potlucks.

[Amy]

Well, I ate it, that's for sure! I used Morningstar fake chicken and it was tasty. Thanks for posting it!

[bridget in oregon]

Well, I'm going to try this tonight becasue my neighbor gave me a buttload of cherry tomatoes from his garden. As for the fam, I doubt that either kid will eat it but hey, you never know. If that's the case, more for me. PS I absolutely love your "Will they eat it" banner. Sheer graphic genius.