Early in my cooking journey, I had times when a good friend would drop by on a Saturday, usually sometime after lunch but hours before dinner. Chatting over iced tea and maybe a snack or two, the hours would tick away until it was almost dinnertime. By then, concentrating on the conversation became a little tricky, because I was simultaneously running through a mental list of the contents of my fridge, trying to figure out what I could toss together, since my normal Saturday afternoon grocery shopping had been waylaid.

This happened often enough that, eventually, I learned that keeping my pantry and freezer stocked was essential for quick, repeatable recipes, like today’s recipe for Baked Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta With Chicken & Ricotta.

Some of the pantry items I try to keep on hand include:

Canned goods are a must-have for quick meals. When my stock gets down to two cans of anything, it goes on my grocery list for replenishment. Canned goods I always have on hand:

I try to keep the refrigerator stocked with things that last longer than a week, like cheeses (cream cheese, sliced cheese, ricotta, cheese wedges and bricks for shredding), eggs, butter (both salted and unsalted) and milk.

Freezer items include plenty of frozen vegetables like green beans, peas, corn, edamame, broccoli and cauliflower. Quick thawing Soyrizo, chorizo and shrimp are some of the freezer proteins I keep on hand.

You can bypass thawing altogether if you own an electric pressure cooker; you can go from frozen raw meat to cooked meat in little time. Or plan ahead when you’re making your favorite food. For example, on days when I grill or poach chicken, I try to double up and freeze the extra cooked chicken, preportioned in twos. I’ll thaw the chicken in the microwave or my electric pressure cooker while I have the pasta or rice cooking.

Also, whenever I make meatballs or meatloaf, I’ll double the recipe, freezing half. I’ll roll out the meatballs, place them on a lined tray and freeze them for a couple of hours to set up. Then I’ll transfer them to a resealable freezer bag. For the meatloaf, I’ll stuff it in a pan that fits inside my electric pressure cooker, wrap it in foil and then put it in a resealable freezer bag. When I’m ready to start dinner, I unwrap it, pop it into my electric pressure cooker, and 45 minutes later, we’re ready to eat.

Today’s baked pasta recipe came about precisely because a friend stopped by for a visit. As the conversation continued and the dinner hour approached, I invited her to stay for a meal. We moved from the patio to the kitchen, and ice tea got switched out for wine as I opened my refrigerator and cupboards to assess their contents. Seeing that I had sun-dried tomato pesto in the cupboard and half of a rotisserie chicken in the fridge, the recipe formed itself. This meal has since become a favorite low-fuss way to get dinner on the table in under 40 minutes.

This recipe uses a basic template for a baked pasta dish: pasta, sauce, protein and cheese. You can customize it to whatever you have on hand, including adding some fresh veg you might have (I’ve successfully added hearty greens like kale, mustard and collard greens). I’ve switched out the sun-dried tomato pesto for a basil one, both jarred and homemade. When I don’t have pesto, I doctor a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings and crushed red chile flakes for a quick, rustic tomato sauce. For protein, I’ve used sausage and ground turkey instead of chicken. When I didn’t have ricotta, I used cream cheese. I’ve also used Oaxaca or Jack cheese when I was out of mozzarella.

This dish comes together quickly, so it’s perfect for a midweek meal.

I love to serve this with a simple green salad or roasted green beans and a chilled glass of pinot gris.

Water 1 tablespoon salt ½ pound penne pasta Olive oil 1½ cups (packed) rough chopped precooked chicken 2 tablespoons pine nuts 1 (approximately 7-ounce) jar sun-dried tomato pesto Grated Parmesan cheese, to taste ⅔ cup ricotta cheese 4 ounces fresh mozzarella

Bring a large pot filled with water to a boil. Add salt and pasta, cooking it to al dente, about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain, add to a large mixing bowl; drizzle with a little olive oil, tossing to keep the pasta from sticking.

While the pasta is cooking, chop the chicken. Heat a small, dry skillet over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and toast, shaking continuously to keep them from burning. Remove from the skillet once they’re golden-brown. Once the pasta is ready and in the bowl, add the chicken, pesto and pine nuts, tossing well to incorporate.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to an oven-safe 3-quart casserole dish; use a wadded-up paper towel to distribute the oil, including up the sides of the dish. Spread a third of the pasta evenly across the dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Divide the ricotta in half; use a spoon to dollop the cheese across the pasta layer. Hand-shred the mozzarella. Sprinkle a third of it over the pasta layer. Add the next layer of pasta and repeat the cheese steps. Add the last layer of pasta and evenly sprinkle with Parmesan and the last third of mozzarella.

Bake the casserole for 15 to 20 minutes, long enough for the cheese to melt, dotted with bits of light golden-brown crust. Rest the pasta for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe is copyrighted by Anita L. Arambula and is reprinted by permission from “Confessions of a Foodie.”

Arambula is the food section art director and designer. She blogs at confessionsofafoodie.me, where the original version of this article was published. Follow her on Instagram: @afotogirl. She can be reached at anita.arambula@sduniontribune.com.

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