When I visited the Hollister farmers market last week, I picked up a pint of cherry tomatoes from Swank Farm. I knew I had the perfect recipe to use them up. The cherry tomatoes, coming in a variety of sizes, from tiny round circles to large grape-size tomatoes shaped like pears, they were sweet as could be.
I had been waiting for a good batch of cherry tomatoes for a balsamic chicken with roasted tomatoes recipe I had found a few weeks before. The recipe calls for tossing the tomatoes with a little bit of honey, olive oil and salt, then roasting them in the oven for 12 minutes. The red, yellow and orange tomatoes burst open as they cooked and the tomato juice cooked into a delicious sauce with the honey and olive oil.
Though the recipe called for balsamic vinaigrette to top the chicken, I marinated it for a few minutes in balsamic vinegar with salt and pepper before sautéing it. Paired with the sweetness from the roasted tomatoes, the chicken tasted great. We served it alongside some green beans, tossed with fresh garlic and a little bit of balsamic vinegar.
Balsamic chicken with roasted tomatoes
Recipe courtesy of Weight Watchers
4 chicken breasts
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
Balsamic viniagrette, spritzer type bottle
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Combine first three ingredients in a small bowl; place tomato mixture on a foil-lined jelly-roll pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes or until tomato skins burst and begin to wrinkle, stirring once. Transfer tomatoes to a bowl, scraping juices into the bowl. Stir in ¼ tsp. salt into the tomato mixture.
While tomatoes bake, place each chicken breast half between two sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or a small heavy skillet. Sprinkle chicken evenly with ¼. Tsp. salt and ½ tsp. pepper.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Place chicken on each of four plates; coat each breast half with two to three sprays of balsamic vinaigrette. Spoon tomatoes evenly over chicken. Makes four servings.
Calories: 238; fat: 4 g.; protein: 40 g; carbs: 7.7 g; fiber: 1 g
