We eat a lot of chicken in The Food of Love kitchen, though it's generally boneless, skinless chicken thighs. With a lovely log of garlic goat cheese in the fridge, I logged on to Food TV to see what Ina would do with chicken and goat cheese. Luckily, I happened to have some chicken breasts on hand, which I deboned (not as well as I'd like, but I didn't waste anything since I cooked the backs along with the breasts). I also had a jar of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil in the fridge, so we were good to go. Dinner came together quickly with some orzo cooked in chicken broth and some broccoli rabe sauteed in garlic.
Ingredients
- 3 boneless chicken breasts, skin-on
- 4 to 5 ounces garlic-and-herb goat cheese (recommended:Montrachet
- 3 sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
- Good olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan. Loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers, leaving 1 side attached. Cut the goat cheese into 1/2-inch-thick slices and place 1 or 2 slices plus 1/3 of the julienned sun-dried tomatoes under the skin of each chicken breast. Pull the skin over as much of the meat as possible so the chicken won't dry out. With your fingers, rub each piece with olive oil, and sprinkle them very generously with salt and pepper. Bake the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes, until the skin is lightly browned and the chicken is just cooked through. Serve hot or at room temperature.
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TASTE NOTES
While I'm not a big fan of white meat chicken, these were moist and flavorful and very simple to prepare. There's no "wow" factor, just a simple, straight-forward weeknight dinner. As Ina would say, "How easy is that?"
