Creamy Chicken, Bacon & Pea Pasta Bake

Ingredients

• 500 g boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3cm chunks
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 300 ml chicken stock
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 200 g frozen peas
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 0.5 tsp smoked paprika
• 300 ml double cream
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 200 g smoked bacon lardons
• 400 g rigatoni
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 150 g mature cheddar, coarsely grated
• 50 g parmesan, finely grated
• fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to serve
• Crusty bread, to serve
• Simple green salad, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C fan. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and salt it generously — it should taste like the sea. This is your only chance to season the pasta itself. Cook the rigatoni for 2 minutes less than the packet says — you want it firmly al dente, because it'll finish cooking in the oven and you don't want mush. Drain, toss with a drizzle of olive oil to stop it sticking, and set aside.
2. While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof casserole or wide stainless or cast-iron pan over a high heat. Pat the chicken dry and season generously with salt, pepper, and the smoked paprika — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Add the bacon lardons first and fry for 4 minutes until golden and the fat has rendered out.
3. Add the chicken in two batches — don't crowd the pan. All at once and the temperature drops, water comes out, and you've boiled the chicken instead of searing it. Sear each batch for 4–5 minutes until properly coloured on the outside, then lift everything out with a slotted spoon and set aside. Leave the rendered fat and brown stuck bits in the pan — that's flavour you've earned.
4. Drop the heat to medium. Add the onion to the pan and cook in the bacon fat for 6 minutes until softened, translucent, and just starting to catch at the edges. Add the grated garlic and cook for 30 seconds, no more — just until fragrant. Burnt garlic turns the whole sauce bitter, so watch it. Sprinkle over the flour and stir for a full minute to cook out the raw taste.
5. Gradually whisk in the chicken stock — a splash at a time at first to prevent lumps — then the double cream, lifting all those brown stuck bits off the base of the pan as you go. Whisk in the butternut squash purée and Dijon mustard until completely smooth and glossy. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 4 minutes until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Taste, season, taste again — adjust now, not at the table.
6. Stir the chicken, bacon, frozen peas, and drained rigatoni back into the sauce. Fold gently until every tube is properly coated — any naked pasta will dry out in the oven. If your pan isn't ovenproof, tip everything into a large baking dish now.
7. Mix the grated cheddar and parmesan together and scatter generously over the top. Bake for 20–25 minutes until the top is bubbling at the edges and deeply golden in patches — you want some near-burnt bits for contrast. Rest for 5 minutes out of the oven so the sauce sets to creamy rather than soupy.
8. Scatter over the chopped parsley, bring the dish to the table with the crusty bread and green salad alongside, and finish each bowl with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a fresh grating of parmesan over the top.