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Baked Balsamic Chicken with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil Pesto

We walked nearly 20 miles during our weekend in Savannah (according to my Fitbit, that is), and our aimless meandering about the city included a dozen or so passes by Paula Dean’s Lady and Sons restaurant.  I’ve liked Paula Dean since the first time I stumbled upon her TV show.  I adore her southern charm, youthful excitement, and penchant for using a stick of butter (or two) in every friggin recipe.  When it comes to ingredients, I don’t possess Paula’s steadfast dedication to any one particular item, but rather four:  onions, garlic, Frank’s Red Hot, and balsamic vinegar. These are my four superstars, and I believe any one of them can take a meal from blah to brilliant.  In another life, I’ll write cookbooks dedicated to each of them.  Promise.

Tonight’s dinner was all about *BALSAMIC VINEGAR*  

Come.to.mama.

Baked Balsamic Chicken with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil Pesto (serves 4)

Adapted from Eat, Live, Run Grilled Balsamic Chicken with Mozzarella and Pesto

• 4 chicken breasts (about 1.5 lbs, or 6 ounces each)
• 2 cups balsamic vinegar, divided
• 4 large cloves garlic
• 4 ounces mozzarella (preferably fresh)
• 1/4 cup prepared pesto (try my basil almond pesto recipe)
• S&P
• Dried oregano

Step One:  Season chicken breasts with S&P.  Place chicken, 4 cloves garlic (minced OR roughly chopped, your call), and one cup of balsamic in a ziploc baggie or Tupperware and marinate in fridge for 1 hour.  Don’t exceed the one hour mark as the vinegar may start to break down the chicken in weird ways.

Step Two:  While the chicken marinates, heat 1 cup of balsamic vinegar over medium high heat for 15-20 minutes until liquid has reduced by half.  Remove from heat, and use a spatula to pour the reduction into a small bowl or serving pitcher to cool.

Step Three:  Cover a baking sheet with foil and coat with cooking spray.  Remove chicken from balsamic marinade, place on prepared baking sheet, and bake at 375 for 25 minutes, flipping halfway through.  Remove chicken from oven and turn on the oven broiler.  Top each chicken breast with a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese then sprinkle with S&P and dried oregano.  Leaving the oven door slightly ajar, broil chicken for 4 minutes, or until cheese is melted.  Top each breast with 1 tbsp pesto and a drizzle of the balsamic reduction.

“I’d rather die with a potato in my mouth than a piece of lettuce.” – Paula Deen

 

 

Last day in Savannah

The last day of any trip is always bitter.  So bitter, that it has taken me an entire week to bring myself to recap our last day in Savannah.  I woke up feeling, well, bitter that our trip’s last day had arrived, but one last stroll through the City Market for breakfast at Henry’s sure did  help to sweeten things up.  Henry’s is a relatively new breakfast and lunch spot in Savannah, and we were surprised that there wasn’t a line out the door on a Sunday morning.  We were actually waited on by Henry himself!  How’s that for southern hospitality?

I loved the bright teal paint throughout the restaurant.

Weekend in Savannah–Day 2

When I booked the weekend trip to Savannah I envisioned days filled with sunshine, spring flowers, and Spanish moss—a picturesque backdrop for hours of meandering about the historic city.

Boy was I wrong.

Weekend in Savannah

We arrived in Savannah just before dinner last night, and we were raring to get out on the streets and begin exploring the culinary offerings of the city.  Our hotel (a Priceline score at $80 per night) is very close to the City Market area, so that’s where we headed.  The market area was full of people—diners, chatters, music players everywhere.

Our first stop was the Avia Lounge, which we picked simply because we were starving and it was the nearest restaurant to us.  Avia is in the Avia Hyatt hotel, and I was immediately impressed with the fancy-chic décor and beautiful chandelier.

Chicken Pesto Paninis

It’s Thursday–the day I spend approximately two to three hours scouring the internet, flipping through cookbooks, and rifling through my big black book in search of amazing recipes and/or inspiration for things to cook this weekend.  It’s a ritual that borders somewhere between dedication and obsession.

Nothing cheeses me off more than spending all those hours (HOURS!) researching on top of shelling out my hard earned moo-lah on ingredients, taking the time to cook the darned thing, and having it turn out to be a flop.  After trying one-too-many frown-evoking recipes, I adopted a new blog bylaw in 2012:  only post recipes that I would recommend (without hesitation) to a friend.  Even though I painstakingly snap photos of everything I cook, if it ain’t delicious, it ain’t going on the blog.  Jarrod knows exactly what I mean when I ask if a dish is “blog worthy,” and he’s pretty truthful about so-so meals (in a I’m-just-glad-you-cooked-please-don’t-make-me-do-this sort of way).

When he REALLY likes something, he doesn’t hesitate to let me know.  Like this Chicken Pesto Panini, for instance, which he declared the BEST SANDWICH OF HIS LIFE.

If those aren’t fighting words, I don’t know what are.

Perhaps it was the homemade focaccia that I woke up bright and early to knead by hand.

Nah… definitely not.  He has no idea what goes down before the 10am hour rolls around.  So, maybe it was those adorable hand-dimpled nooks and crannies dusted generously with garlic salt and oregano?

Or the fresh made-from-scratch pesto.  Basil, toasted almonds, parmesan, and garlic anyone?

And I did slave over my Griddler grilling that chicken up.

My guess is it had nothing to do with any of these things, though I was sure to emphasize each and every component of the sandwich that was in fact homemade as I wiggled my fingers in jazz-hand fashion in front of his face.

If you aren’t up for all the home-cooking, you could totally buy a loaf of focaccia (or use premade pizza dough) and use store bought pesto – but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to make it yourself and I am ALL ABOUT any excuse to whip out my spirit fingers whilst bragging.

Chicken Pesto Paninis

• 2 large chicken breasts
• Olive Oil
• McCormick’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning (or your seasonings of choice)
• Black Pepper
• Focaccia (recipe below)
• Basil Pesto (recipe below)
• Monterey Jack (or cheese of choice)

Step One:  Drizzle a bit of olive oil on each chicken breast, spread with a brush, then season with seasonings of your choice.  Repeat on opposite side.  Grill chicken breast until completely cooked through (approx 7 minutes on the Griddler or George Foreman Grill).

Step Two:  Cut off a hunk of focaccia and slice in half sandwich style.  Spread pesto on one side of bread, top with cheese, then chicken breast, and other half of bread.  Wrap sandwich tightly in foil and bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until heated through.

Basic Focaccia

Recipe slightly adapted from the Joy of Cooking

• 1/2 package Active Dry Yeast (about 1 1/8 teaspoons)
• 5.5 ounces warm water
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
• Olive oil
• 1.5 tsp salt
• Garlic salt
• Dried Oregano

Step One:  Combine the yeast and warm water in a medium mixing bowl, let stand five minutes until the yeast is dissolved.

Step Two:  Add the flour, 1 tbsp olive oil, and 1.5 tsp salt to the dissolved yeast and mix with a fork until combined.  Lightly flour a work surface, transfer dough to surface, then knead by hand (adding flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking) for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Lightly coat a medium sized bowl with olive oil, place dough in the bowl and flip to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place (a sunny window) for 1.5 hours.

Step Three:  On a cookie shee or pizza pan coated with cooking spray, gently roll/pat the dough out into a round(ish) slab, then use your fingers to dimple the top.  Drizzle olive oil over top, then sprinkle with garlic salt and oregano.  Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Basil Pesto

• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, large stems removed
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup toasted almonds
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/8 tsp salt (if almonds are salted, omit this)
• Pinch of black pepper

Step One and Only:  Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until thoroughly combined.

On a separate note, today is the boyfriend’s birthday!  Now that we are once again the same age, I can no longer be referred to as a cougar or cradle robber… well, at least not for the next 5 months anyway.

 

Spaghetti Squash with Sausage, Pesto, and Tomatoes

Although it may seem like I eat meatballs at every meal, I occasionally opt for different meats of the non-ball variety.  (Like when I’ve run out of meatballs and don’t have the necessary ingredients to make more.)  Tonight was one of those nights.  With a grumbling belly and nary a meatball in sight, I decided to remix my usual spaghetti squash with some ingredients I had on hand.

Enter Spaghetti Squash with Sausage, Pesto, and Tomatoes: