Learning to Cook

I have always been surrounded by wonderful cooks and bakers. While this has been delightful for my taste buds, I always wondered if I would ever be able to cook like them. When I lived in Brazil, I was forced to learn how to cook because the ingredients at my disposal were so different. The experience was, at first, frustrating. But, once I began to experiment, the world of cooking opened up to me. My recipe box is now brimming, and I thought others might be interested in trying some of the recipes I have found. I haven’t tried them all yet, but I plan to in the future! I hope you enjoy, and please feel free to add your own suggestions/comments.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Balsamic Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes

The juices escaping from the roasting tomatoes combine with the honey and olive oil to make a syrupy glaze to coat the tomatoes and the chicken.

Prep: 5 minutes; Cook: 12 minutes

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and about 1/4 cup tomatoes)


Ingredients
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
Balsamic vinaigrette salad spritzer (such as Wish-Bone)
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl; place tomato mixture on a foil-lined jelly-roll pan. Bake at 450° for 12 minutes or until tomato skins burst and begin to wrinkle, stirring once. Transfer tomatoes to a bowl, scraping juices into bowl. Stir 1/4 teaspoon salt into tomato mixture.

3. Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.

4. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken; cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Place chicken on individual plates; coat each breast half with 2 to 3 sprays of balsamic spritzer. Spoon tomatoes evenly over chicken.

Nutritional Information
Calories:238 (16% from fat)
Fat:4g (sat 0.8g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.8g)
Protein:40g
Carbohydrate:7.7g
Fiber:1g
Cholesterol:99mg
Iron:1.5mg
Sodium:431mg
Calcium:28mg

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1896105

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