Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Tasty Tuesday - Greek Salsa Chicken

Make this recipe tonight! Do it! It is probably one of the best (not to mention super easy) chicken breast recipes I've ever made, and my husband says this is now in the running for best meal I've ever cooked him. May I present to you...drumroll... Greek salsa chicken breasts! Ta-da!


I found this recipe via Pinterest which led me to Sweet Pea's Kitchen blog where I followed the recipe. I'll repost the recipe here and add in anecdotes from when I cooked it. I'm no expert cook, so when following recipes I always wish the authors would give more details - even if they are obvious - because I'm always second guessing myself...so I hope my side-comments will help you!

Ingredients

For the Salsa:
  • 4 oz. crumbled feta cheese
  • 1 cup halved grape or cherry tomatoes (I used cherry)
  • 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives (Publix had these fresh in deli section, next to premade salads, etc.)
  • 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (used curly parsley - pinched off a bunch, put it in my 'slap chop' chopper and chopped it up)
  • 1/4 cup lemon joice (squeezed fresh lemons for juice - took about three lemons to get 1/4 cup)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon freshly chopped oregano (I already had dried Oregano spice and just used that instead)
For the Chicken:
  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (Took a package of three boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cut them in half)
  • Pepper to taste
  • Kosher salt to taste
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 lemons, cut into wedges
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 450° F
  2. In a large bowl, combine feta, tomatoes, olives, parsley, lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil and oregano. Cover and chill in fridge. (I made this about an hour before I started the rest of the recipe. So after combining and stirring the salsa, I covered the bowl with saran wrap and let it chill in the fridge for about an hour and a half and pulled it out when chicken was done)
  3. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large roasting pan over medium-high heat (I used one of my deep Calphalon frying pans that can go in the oven -- make sure your pan can go in the oven, certain ones can and certain ones can't past specific temperatures). Season chicken (both sides) with kosher salt and pepper. Sear chicken (on stove top in frying pan) about 1-2 minutes on each side (I did about 3 min each side - be careful of sizzling olive oil splashes). Remove pan from heat.
  4. Squeeze lemon wedges over chicken to coat (I didn't use all of them - I think you can probably just use one lemon cut into wedges for this instead of the recommended two). Place the squeezed lemon wedges around the chicken breasts. Roast until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160°, about 25 - 30 min. (I'm not a cooking expert, so the whole 'roast' thing confused me at first - but I just literally took my Calphalon frying pan and stuck it in the oven to bake. I don't have a meat thermometer, so after the cook time was over, we just cut the middle of the breasts and made sure it was cooked all the way through. Finally, my cook time ended up being about 35 min).
  5. Transfer chicken and lemons to a large platter (I just left it in the pan). Top with salsa and serve (we put chicken on our plates first, then scooped salsa on top).
This easily served the two of us with Bradley going back for seconds, leaving a half breast leftover for lunch. I think if you're serving more than two, double this recipe.

The blog author suggested serving this with her oven roasted potatoes and a garden salad. I didn't have time to cook the potatoes too, so I cheated and bought frozen Alexia oven fries with olive oil, rosemary and garlic seasoning. They take about 25 min to cook, so I just popped them in the oven on the bottom shelf at the same time the chicken was cooking. They were soooo good and complimented the chicken perfectly.

Add a side salad with light balsamic vinegerette dressing and this was an easy and super flavorful dinner for two! I will definitely be making this again. Yum!

8 comments:

Kerr said...

I am so glad you added your notes, I love stuff like that bc I am always second guessing too!

Jenny said...

That looks AWESOME!!!!

Megan said...

I agree that looks amazing!!!

Carly Messmer said...

Mmm this sounds so good! Will put it in my rotation!

Elizabeth | The Blush Magnolia said...

Yum! I will definitely be trying this out soon! It has all my favorite things! xo

megan said...

Yes please! Big fan of anything Greek and always looking for a new chicken recipe.

Rebecca said...

looks so yummy! I wanna try this =]

erica said...

Oh my gosh this looks amazing! xo