Stir Up Supper
2:10PM February 13, 2013

Stir Up Supper with Jenn Hobby - a daily dinner idea! 

 

 

Pan-Roasted Chicken and Tomatoes

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cooking School & Real-Life Notes from Jenn Hobby

 

Ingredients:

1 pint grape tomatoes (Note 1)

16 large black olives, such as Kalamata, pitted and halved (Note 2)

3 tablespoons capers (nonpareil), drained and rinsed

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 skin-on boneless chicken breast halves (about 6 ounces each), rinsed and patted dry

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

 

Directions:

Heat oven to 475 degrees. 

 

Toss tomatoes, olives, capers, and 2 tablespoons oil together in a bowl. (Note 2)

 

Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. (Note 3) Heat a large ovenproof skillet over high heat until shimmering, about 1 minute. (Note 4) Add remaining tablespoon oil and heat until hot but not smoking. Place chicken in skillet, skin side down, and cook until deep golden brown, about 4 minutes. Use tongs to flip chicken, then add tomato mixture to skillet.

 

Transfer skillet to oven and roast chicken until cooked through and tomatoes have softened, 15 to 18 minutes.

 

Transfer everything to a platter, or divide chicken among plates and spoon some tomato mixture over the top.

 

Notes:

1. A pint of grape tomatoes is definitely the best option here, just be sure to pick out any that have gone bad. There's always one or two! If you don't have grape tomatoes, but you have other shapes and sizes of tomatoes in your kitchen, you can still make this dish. Just give them a rough chop and toss them in the bowl.

 

2. I like to use pitted green olives in this recipe too. Slice them in half just like the black olives. I have added about 2 tablespoons of the jarred green olive juice to the tomato mixture when I didn't have capers in my fridge. I often add 1/4 cup diced purple onions. I also add garlic - sometimes whole cloves, sometimes minced and add to the tomato mixture. Experiment and have fun with it! 

 

3. When you are searing the chicken breasts, use this seasoning trick from Rachel Ray. Season one side of the raw chicken with salt & pepper, then put them in the pan. Season the other side once the first side is searing. This eliminates touching the raw chicken an additional time for seasoning. 

 

4. Pay attention to the words OVENPROOF SKILLET - that means NO plastic handles! Your entire pan is about to go into a VERY hot oven!

 

5. This is a week-night staple in our house that wins every time! I have served it with a small side salad, roasted asparagus, steamed broccoli, roasted brussel sprouts, sautéed spinach, whatever your favorite green veggie may be. 

 

Enjoy! With Love, Jenn