Chicken Florentine Linguine

While in Indianapolis this summer, I had the privilege of staying for two weeks on the Verity Institute campus where my daughter is attending college. The awesome chef there made this chicken dish for dinner one night and I'd like to share the recipe. My thanks to Jordan.

The amounts here will feed a group of 12, or double it for a few families and use two separate baking dishes to hold it all like I did.

Boneless chicken breasts
3/4 cup butter
4 TBSP garlic, chopped
3 TBSP lemon juice
1 large family size can cream of chicken soup (I used 26 oz can)
1 large family size can cream of mushroom soup (I used 26 oz can)
3 TBSP Italian seasoning
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
2 cups parmesan cheese
1 -2 bags fresh spinach
1 package fresh mushrooms, chopped
3 - 4 strips of cooked bacon, crumbled
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 - 2 lbs. linguine

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the chicken on a baking dish and let cook for about 20 or 30 minutes until juices run clear. Remove from oven and set aside. Fry the bacon and set aside. Saute the garlic in butter on the stove using a large skillet, add the lemon juice, both cans of soup, Italian seasoning, and heavy cream. Crumble the bacon and add to the skillet, then add the parmesan cheese. Stir together well.

Lay the spinach evenly over the bottom of a large baking dish (9 X 13). It cooks down so don't worry that it is fluffy at this point. Add the cooked chicken breasts on top of the spinach. Then layer the mushrooms on top of the chicken. Spoon the sauce over the mushrooms. Save a little sauce to add to the linguine just to keep it moist. Lastly, sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top.

Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until bubbly and lightly browned.

While the dish is in the oven, cook the linguine according to package directions. Drain linguine and add the reserved sauce. I did this because I made this meal for a gathering with three other families and it was going to be a few hours before we ate. I didn't want the linguine to dry out and get sticky so I tossed it with a little sauce.

The spinach will look like this when you lay it in the dish, fluffy, but it will cook down so don't be afraid to add a lot of spinach.

The sauce cooking on the stove.

In the midst of pouring the sauce over the chicken.