Baked Chicken w/ Roma Tomato Pancetta Sauce & Spinach Linguine

Alright everyone, I've been out of commission cooking-wise with the arrival of the Kitchen Bear Cub (trademark pending) and my diet, but I think I'm due for a comeback. I spent most of my drive home this afternoon creating this dish, and let me tell you it was delicious.

The though process all started at Emily and Paul's wedding on Saturday (Congrats guys, hope you're having fun in Hawaii!) when Caitlin had the gouda stuffed baked chicken and said she liked the drier baked chicken. So I tried to think of something reasonably Weight Watchers friendly that had baked chicken and a plan began to form when I spotted the diced Pancetta (which if you didn't know is thick cubes of cured Italian Bacon. . . mmmmm) on my shopping trip through Trader Joe's.

Here's what you'll need:

2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 Package fresh Spinach Linguine (I used Buitoni)
2 medium sized Roma Tomatoes, diced
1 large Shallot, diced
1 8oz can Tomato Sauce with Garlic, Basil & Oregano
1 Cup light Alfredo sauce
2 oz (about 1/2 a cup) diced Pancetta
2 Slices Havarti Cheese
1 Cup Baby Spinach, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
Dried Basil, Oregano, Garlic Powder, Thyme and Rosemary
Salt
Pepper
handful of fresh Basil to garnish
Pepper

Turn on the oven to 400 degrees. Prep the chicken by cutting off all the fat and lightly pounding the chicken breast to thin it out and soften it up. Try to keep the breast thinner than 1" thick on the fat end. Spray some non-stick cooking spray on an 8x13 glass or metal pan and place the chicken breasts in the middle of the pan. Pour on just enough of the Alfredo sauce to cover the chicken (less is more here, the sauce will thin out and run everywhere, so it doesn't have to be completely covered, use about 1/4 C on each breast). Then spice to taste with the salt, pepper, and dried basil, oregano, thyme, garlic powder and rosemary and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

While the chicken is baking, put a large saucepan on the stove on medium high heat and add in the pancetta with a tbsp of olive oil, and let that cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. While the pancetta is browning, dice the shallot and add to the pancetta, then add in the tomatoes and the minced garlic and let them brown for 3 or 4 minutes. Once the tomatoes start softening up, add in the can of tomato sauce and lower heat to medium-medium low and let simmer covered. In a medium saucepan, begin to boil water for the pasta.

Once the 20 minutes is up on the chicken, flip the breasts over and put a slice of Havarti cheese on each chicken breast and bake for another 10 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 C of Alfredo sauce to the tomato sauce and reduce heat to low, stirring occasionally. The water for the pasta should be boiling by now, so go ahead and add in the spinach linguine and let that boil for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the pasta is ready to go, drain and distribute onto serving plates with a scoop of the pancetta sauce. Take the chicken out of the oven and add to the plate and serve!  Man that was good!