Negresco (Egyptian chicken pasta bake)
- Published: 24 Jan 25
- Updated: 26 May 25
This Egyptian chicken pasta bake from food writer Soha Darwish is a crowdpleaser. “Sharing the recipe for negresco puts a big smile on my face for two reasons,” says Soha. “One, it is tied to some of my sweetest childhood memories, and two, it reminds me of my early days in London, telling my Italian friends that I’m making negresco for dinner, convinced that it was an authentic Italian pasta dish. They used to give me a quizzical look, which I didn’t understand at the time. Only later I came to realise that my beloved chicken pasta bake is not as Italian as I thought.”
“Negresco is an Egyptian dish, created during the 1950s and 60s when Italians, Greeks and many other nationalities called Egypt – and especially Alexandria – home. The authentic recipe uses heaps of grated roumi Egyptian cheese, which is a pungent hard cheese. It’s hard to find outside Egypt, though, so I use parmesan instead, along with mozzarella, and the result is just as comforting.”
An Egyptian-British food writer, culinary consultant and food blogger, Soha enjoys sharing wholesome hassle-free recipes with big flavours, inspired by Egyptian as well as Levantine cuisines. She has lived in London for 20 years. Find Soha on Instagram. Try her recipe for koshari, “the king of Egyptian street food”, next.
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Serves 6-8 -
Prep time 20 min. Cook time 1 hour 45 min
Nutrition
- Calories
- 832kcals
- Fat
- 43g (25g saturated)
- Protein
- 48g
- Carbohydrates
- 61g (8.3g sugars)
- Fibre
- 3.3g
- Salt
- 1.6g