Fab Friday...One

OK, so I know it's Friday and I'm supposed to give y'all five things.  But I'm just going to give you one thing today (because I'm LAZY).  I'm making this for dinner tonight (picture taken in Kitchen de Makler) and it is DELISH!  I don't even like tomatoes...but I went back for more tomatoes :)

The recipe I found online had the chicken and tomatoes served over some sort of linguine.  Well, I don't like long pasta (I hate to slurp noodles), so I didn't use that...I used orzo.  Let me tell you, that stuff was a pain in my ass!  It stuck to my mesh strainer and then hardened itself like rice and I had to scrape it to get it off.  So yeah...I won't be making that again.

But tonight I'll be making it with....some other sort of noodle (I honestly can't remember what I bought)...and it will be phenomenal!

A couple tips about cooking this......
1.  Don't skimp on the garlic....you cannot have enough garlic!
2.  When it comes to basil....see tip #1!
3.  Cut your chickens in half so they're thinner because otherwise this will take way longer to cook than the suggested 8-10 minutes.
4.  Use little cherry/grape tomatoes and cut 'em in half...the skin on every piece is nice to have.
5.  Maybe this is common sense, but I didn't know it....place the chicken in the oil AWAY from you so that when the oil splatters all over, it doesn't actually splatter on you!

So without further ado.....

Tomato Basil Chicken 

(adapted from Menu Musings of a Modern American Mom)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 chicken breasts, sliced in half
• kosher salt + black pepper
• 2 T. EVOO
• 2 C. cherry/grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• 2 t. minced fresh garlic (or more...so much more....)
• 4T. cold butter
• 1/2 C. fresh basil, cut into ribbons (more or less is fine)
• Freshly grated parm / romano / asiago (or just use the pre-shredded stuff from the store)

METHOD

• Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
• Add olive oil to skillet (large skillet) and crank up the heat to high
• Once oil is HOT (like, smoking hot) add the chicken breasts and cook about 4-5 minutes per side (or more or less depending on the size of your chickens)
• Add the tomatoes, basil, butter, garlic, and more salt and pepper, stirring together to "marry" the ingredients
• Now that your chicken is done, turn down the burner and let everything settle in and get cozy together
• When the sauce has thickened to your liking, you're finished...yay!
• Cut it into chunks and serve over pasta...or really, just eat it however you want with whatever you want.  If you like healthy things you'll probably pick more vegetables to have with it....more power to you, but I'm sticking with pasta!

Have a good weekend, folks, and make this meal...soon....I promise you'll thank me for it!