I've noticed a trend in my posts - I love cooking Italian food as much as I enjoy eating it. I came up with this chicken recipe when I first came to the realization that my obsession with Italian food was becoming extreme. This chicken takes 40 minutes to make from prep to table so it's another easy one for weeknights (or for those days when you just can't put the baby down). Oh mom life. Can I get an "Amen"?
Ingredients
1 tsp canola oil
5 chicken breasts
1/3 cup pesto sauce
2 large tomatoes
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, to taste. Averaging, I think I used 1/2 tsp salt & 1/3 tsp pepper. Heat a cast iron pan on medium high heat. Take this time to preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Lay your chicken in a single layer in the pan and let it sear 2-3 minutes. When it unsticks from the pan you know it's ready to flip. Let cook 2-3 minutes on the other side. You're not trying to cook the chicken, just brown it for flavour and colour.
Spread pesto evenly on each piece of chicken, sprinkle cheese over each piece and top with slices of tomato. You can try Naf's pesto recipe that we posted! Place the whole pan in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 20-30 minutes, until cooked through. For the last 5 minutes, move the pan to the top rack and broil. You want the tomatoes to slightly blister but not burn.
Remove the pan, let cool for 5 minutes then serve. I like it over pesto pasta or just brown rice because there tends to be a lot of juice at the bottom of the pan. Your family will LOVE it, I promise!!
The perfect bite.