I’m a Caprese salad lover. You too? I bet you are. Caprese is one of the most known salads in the world; with soft mozzarella slices, juicy tomatoes and aromatic basil. But what happens when I add some chicken to it? In this case, you get an amazing Caprese chicken featuring Italian flag colours.
This recipe is really easy. You just need to put the Caprese chicken together and put it in the oven. You can make any side dish of your choice or simply just stay with the chicken. And for some extra taste, you can add some homemade pesto.
Ingredients for 2 portions of Caprese chicken:
- 2 chicken breasts (or chicken medallions)
- 6-10 cherry or plum tomatoes
- 2 mozzarellas
- ca 15 basil leaves
- 6 mini onions
- 3-4 Tbsp of green peas (cooked)
- a handful of green beans (fresh)
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
To begin with, take the chicken breasts and make cuts crosswise on each of them without cutting completely through the chicken. The same cuts like you would do for the Hasselback potato. Even if you’ll cut through, that won’t be a problem. In case you can’t find chicken breasts, simply use chicken medallions. To keep them together, you can use a wooden skewer (that you remove after baking) or you can simply place 5-7 pieces next to each other on a backing paper.
Preheat the oven to 180º C.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Wash and half the cherry tomatoes, slice the mozzarella and start stuffing the chicken breasts. Fill each slit (cut) with a slice of mozzarella, half of the cherry tomato and a leaf of basil. Place the filled chicken breasts on a baking dish covered with baking paper. Add some small onions next to it, drizzle everything with some olive oil and put to bake for about 30 minutes or until the chicken gets golden brown.
In the meantime, wash and clean the green beans. Put them in a pot, cover with 1 cm of water and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Then transfer them to a pan (without the water) together with some olive oil and green peas. Cook for a couple of minutes, season well, cover and remove from the stove.
Serve the Caprese chicken while still steamy with some green beans and green peas on a side to give a great contrast. For drinks, I would recommend a nice glass of white wine or, why not, a beer.
Enjoy!
