Penne Pasta With Chicken from Olivia’s Cafe at Old Key West Resort

Disney Recipes, Heather McPherson — By Heather McPherson on November 5, 2009 at 2:41 pm

Olivia’s Café is a casual dining restaurant at Disney’s Old Key West Resort. The menu includes Florida seafood and American cuisine with a slight Caribbean twist. Breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes are all served family style. This pasta dish is from the Orlando Sentinel’s “Thought You’d Never Ask” archives. The quick and easy dish was on the restaurant’s 2002 menu. The recipe is a breeze to make.

The recipe calls for a mixture of Parmesan and asiago cheeses. Be sure to use freshly grated Parmesan and not the granulated stuff that is sold in canisters. There’s no comparison in flavor, and the latter is loaded with sodium. Asiago cheese is a slightly firm Italian cheese with a nutty flavor. It’s made from whole or part-skim cow’s milk and comes in small wheels with glossy rinds. The yellow interior has many small holes.

Baby spinach leaves are quite tender and have a flat, spade shape. They are small enough to add whole and work well with the penne pasta.
Quick tips: The chicken can be grilled ahead of time, and the pasta can be cooked and held until ready to assemble this dish.

Penne Pasta With Chicken from Olivia’s Cafe at Disney’s Old Key West Resort

Yield: 4 servings.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 pound uncooked penne pasta

1/4 pound fresh baby spinach

1 cup julienned sun-dried tomatoes

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 1/2 cups freshly grated asiago cheese, divided

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

1. Grill chicken breasts and set aside to keep warm.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Pour cooked pasta into a large mixing bowl. Add spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, 1 cup asiago cheese, minced garlic and salt and pepper. Toss until all ingredients are well-combined. Drizzle in the olive oil. Toss again.

3. Mound pasta and greens onto four serving plates. Slice chicken on diagonal and place a breast on top of each mound of greens. Sprinkle each serving with remaining asiago cheese and serve.

Tags: Dining, Disney Resorts