Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Chicken Capri

Ricotta cheese...I could eat it by the spoonful. Throw a few herbs and some pepper in it, and it's a great celery dip. Slather it on anything, and "anything" just got 642% better tasting. Just get a spoon, and it's better than eating peanut butter out of the jar (mostly because peanut butter is DISGUSTING, moving on).

So chicken + tomatoes + cheese makes my stomach very happy. Plus, the leftovers are good for lunch the next day. It's a lazy blogger's dream come true!

Did I mention it's relatively healthy? Ok, you can forget I said that if you want, if that will make it taste better. Deception often makes my stomach happy. Like when I bite into a lentil dish at the Indian lunch buffet, only to discover that it's actually peas, and I have to curse myself because I was too impatient to take the time to read the labels above the food. Which is why I also burned my tongue when this came out of the oven (because of the impatience, not the peas, you can keep up if you try).

Chicken Capri

2 chicken breasts, sliced in half horizontally
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
garlic powder, to taste
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (grated or shredded)
1/2 tsp oregano
fresh ground pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons diced tomatoes
4 slices Mozzarella cheese (except that I was out and used Muenster)

Heat olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold your chicken breasts. Add the chicken to the pan and season with garlic powder. Cook for a bout 5-6 minutes on each side, until they're just browning.



Aside: I picked up the trick of cutting the chicken breasts like this from my sister; I used to just hack them in half, but slicing them like this makes dinner-cooking go much faster.

Back to recipe-izing.

Preheat your oven to 350.

Mash (yes, mash, don't just mix) the ricotta, Parmesan, oregano and pepper together.



When the chicken breasts are ready, put them in a shallow casserole - I used my 11x7 pan and it was the perfect size.

Top each breast half with 1/4 of the ricotta mixture and spread out a little.



Top each piece with 1 Tbsp diced tomatoes - I used fire-roasted, because, really, have you tasted fire roasted tomatoes?



Bake for 10 minutes.

Top each piece with 1 slice of cheese.



Bake for about 5-6 minutes or until the cheese is melty and delicious and will burn the ever loving heck out of your tongue because you're too impatient to wait.

1 comment:

SjElizabeth said...

I want this please, now. Sub fake chicken breast from Publix, of course. Yummmmm. Also, are those carrots on the plate? Do not let those touch my fake Chicken Capri, thank you.