a quick and easy chicken recipe

As someone who spent the majority of my life as a vegetarian, I don't have many meat and poultry dishes. My guy sacrifices a lot when it comes to eating and eats what I make - which is only ever vegan or a fish dish. I never cook with eggs or milk.  I'm only just now starting to add cheese to dishes. The smell of meat cooking in a frying pan makes me gag. However, I know I need to start somewhere if I want to compromise. Until now he's been very good at cooking his own meat, but I know he would love to come home to a carnivorous meal prepared for him.

On Sunday, I began searching for a chicken recipe I thought he'd like. I really wanted to impress him, too. I found a recipe for a creamy pesto chicken and incidentally had almost all of the ingredients (just my luck because nothing is open on Sunday here). I knew it would be a winner and was excited all day for dinner time. I am not used to cooking creamy items as I have always been a fan of fresh ingredients. I much prefer my pasta with a light, flavorful, homemade tomato sauce than with a heavy cream-based sauce. In France, this just doesn't fly. People like creamy sauces and then add a kilo of cheese to the top as if it weren't already heavy enough. To each his own. And, after so much of eating food the way I like it, why shouldn't I cook something the way they like it here?

I felt all prepared for dinner. I had made homemade cupcakes and frosting in the morning. I had the salad made in advance and only needed to add the dressing. I made the pesto in advance. I had roasted veggies marinated for myself and in the oven. I successfully followed the recipe for the chicken and that, too, was in the oven. All I had to do was boil some pasta.

I was feeling very calm and prepared. Then, 20 minutes before we were going to break the fast, my guy's brother called and said he would be coming for dinner and their dad, too. Mind you - I love having them over, but I had asked my guy to call them in the afternoon and he said, "No, no, they aren't coming tonight." I knew he should have called!

I quickly went from calm to panic! I needed to make more chicken and get it in the oven. I needed to make a bigger salad. Suddenly, all my preparation seemed worthless.

My guy stepped up to the plate and helped me out big time. We had the table set, the chicken was ready by the time everyone finished eating the salad, the pesto pasta that accompanied the meal was just right, and the guys all praised my chicken saying it was tender and delicious. I was ecstatic (until I saw how many dishes I had to clean!!!).

Moral of the story: it all works out in the end! Oh, and you should make this chicken, too!

Creamy Pesto Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 per person)
• 3 Tbsp Homemade pesto
• 1/2 cup crème fraîche
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• roughly 1/4 cup breadcrumbs or enough to coat
• about a dozen cherry tomatoes
• a few fresh basil leaves for garnish

Directions:

Okay, I understand that my ingredients were a bit vague, but it's best to eyeball these things. For example, I only made 3 chicken breasts because 3 people were eating chicken. I used the extra crème fraîche and pesto mixture at the end so nothing went to waste! 

First, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Then, prep the chicken, cutting off any fat. Use a small, sharp knife to make a slit along the side of each chicken breast, creating a pocket. 

Mix together the pesto and crème fraîche, then carefully spoon a quarter of the mixture into each chicken breast. Gently, smooth over the seal so the mixture stays inside. *This was surprisingly less messy than I thought it would be. It helped me to hold the chicken on it's side so the mixture would  ooze in rather than out. 

After you have finished scooping the mixture into each chicken breast. Place them in a shallow, oven safe dish that you have coated with olive oil. Brush a little oil over the top of each breast and then season each well with salt and pepper.

The next step is pressing the breadcrumbs onto each breast. I felt the prettiest and tastiest way to do this (rather than using store-bought bread crumbs) was to use my food processor to grind up some day old bread. The breadcrumbs were larger than store-bought and looked really nice on the finished product when they were golden brown. Make sure to press all over each chicken breast with the breadcrumbs.

Add the tomatoes to the dish. Drizzle with remaining olive oil. 

Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the chicken starts to turn golden and is cooked through.

When plating, create a bed under each breast with any remaining pesto/crème fraîche mixture you may have. Give everyone a few tomatoes, sprinkle with basil leaves and serve with roasted potatoes or pesto penne pasta.