Pasta Bravo

This is Bravo! Cucina Italiana's signature dish consisting of wood grilled chicken and sauteed mushrooms with a roasted red pepper cream sauce served over rigatoni.  At lunchtime it costs a whopping $11.99 so when I saw it posted to Sara's Piggly-Wiggly Blog I was psyched and surprised by how simple it looked!  I thought the perfect time to give this recipe a try was for my (belated) Valentine's Day dinner gift to my hubby :).  He doesn't like mushrooms but he's been trained to just pick them out and throw them onto my plate...more for me!

What was so awesome about this recipe was that I was able to take 2 sauces that are already staples to make in my house and then add some jarred roasted red pepper to create a totally new dish!  Just blend it all together - it really was that simple!  For the chicken, I used some of my leftover Crockpot 40 Clove Garlic Chicken (which shredded more than sliced...) but you could use pieces of Rotisserie Chicken or any sort of grilled chicken.  The recipe really calls for Wood Grilled Chicken but who does that at home??  That's probably the only part about this recipe that wasn't spot on!  And, to be honest since the recipe supposedly came from a recipe issued by the restaurant, I'd feel a bit ripped off if it didn't taste like the restaurant's version :).

Definitely make sure to use sauce that you really like..whether it's homemade or bought.  I didn't know this but apparently you could go to Olive Garden, Bravo, or probably your other favorite Italian restaurant to buy their sauces.  Thanks Sara for that tip!  Or, your neighborhood grocer would probably do as well...

Bravo remains one of our favorite restaurants today and so for our (belated) Valentine's Day dinner this year I made a Mock Bravo Italian meal for the two of us at home. I put the recipes I used and breakouts of restaurant pricing below but in total had we eaten the same meal at Bravo it would have cost us at least $40 + tax and tip.

• Insalata Della Casa ($2.59 each with meal)
• Foccacia Bread and Sun Dried Tomato Dipping Oil (free with meal)*
• Pasta Bravo ($13.99 each)
• Dessert ($3.99+ each), Chubby Hubby Cookies (unrelated to Bravo...just wanted to try them!)

*Note: I didn't make the dipping oil this time but I've linked to a recipe that I've bookmarked to try next time that's supposedly the real deal from Bravo! It'll need scaling though as the recipe is for 1 GALLON! Sheesh!

Pasta Bravo
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Yields: 2 Servings

Ingredients

• 8-oz rigatoni pasta
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (Bravo! uses wood-grilled; I used leftover 40 Clove Garlic Chicken; Can use rotisserie chicken or any chicken breast)
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 8-oz mushrooms, sliced
• 1 pint (2 cups) alfredo sauce (used Quick and Easy Alfredo Sauce but can subsitute your favorite homemade or store bought sauce)
• 1 pint (2 cups) marinara sauce (used Marinara Magnifica but can substitute your favorite homemade or store bought sauce)
• 7-oz roasted red peppers, drained well

Directions

1. If needed, fully cook chicken throughout using preferred method and then slice into strips.  Set aside.
2. Boil pasta according to package directions to al dente.  Drain and return to pan and set aside.
3. While the pasta and chicken are cooking, melt the butter over medium heat and add the mushrooms. Saute until tender.  Add mushrooms to sauce.
4. Place the alfredo sauce, marinara sauce, and roasted red peppers into a blender, and mix well.
5. Pour majority of sauce over noodles and mix to coat.  Plate the pasta, top with chicken and spoon remaining roasted red pepper cream sauce on top. Serve hot!

Source: Bravo! Cucina Italiana as seen on The Piggly-Wiggly