Tomato Basil Chicken

Tomato Basil Chicken

No need to grab that jar of pre-made pasta sauce!  This light and fresh sauce comes together in MINUTES from ingredients that you probably have right this minute!   I've always been told that the key to great Italian food is fresh ingredients, made simply.   Now if you've ever labored over a big casserole of lasagna, you may be scratching your head on that one.... but that's another story! LOL  

This Tomato Basil Chicken will have you grabbing your fork
at the 30 minute mark, which is great news when you need to have a nice, hot meal on the table quickly.  

Ingredients: (4 servings)

• 2 chicken breasts 
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
• 2 tsp minced fresh garlic
• 4 Tbsp cold butter
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• freshly grated Parmigiano reggiano cheese, for garnish

Step-by-step:

Season chicken breasts with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. 

2 large chicken breasts + kosher salt

plus black pepper

Cooks note:  The granules of kosher salt are larger than "table salt," which makes it harder to over salt your food.  The freshly cracked black pepper tastes much "fresher" than the stuff in the can.  If you want the chicken to cook a little faster, consider pounding them out just a little so they are more of a uniform thickness.

Add a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to your skillet.  This may seem like quite a bit, but it will form the base for the sauce.

2 Tbsp EVOO

While waiting for the oil to heat up, go ahead and get your water going for the pasta.  If you don't do it early, you'll have to sit and wait on the pasta to be done at the end.

water for pasta

When the oil is HOT, add the chicken breasts.  If the oil does not start sizzling immediately, then its not hot enough!  Adding meat to cold/cool oil will give you greasy meat!!   I think next time I make this dish, I will add some dried basil or Italian seasoning to my salt and pepper on the chicken.

After about 4-5 minutes, the chicken breasts should be ready to turn.  By the way, when did chicken breasts get SO HUGE?!   You'll want to cook them on the second side another 4-5 minutes,or until the juices run clear when you pierce them with a small sharp knife.  You don't want to OVER cook them, or they will be dry and tough.  If you pounded yours out thinner, they will cook faster than this.

After the second side has been cooking for about 4 minutes, go ahead and add in the fresh tomatoes that you have chopped up.   There will be lots of steam, spitting, and sputtering!

2 cups chopped tomatoes

Next, add the fresh basil that you have chopped into ribbons.

1/2 cup basil ribbons

Next, add in the cold butter.  This will make the sauce silky.

4 Tbsp cold butter

Then the minced garlic.

2 tsp minced garlic

You will probably want to add some more kosher salt and black pepper to season the sauce.

season sauce with kosher salt

and black pepper

Now give it all a good stir so all those flavors will marry together.   When your chicken is "done," turn the sauce down on the lowest setting to keep it all warm until the pasta is cooked, which should be any minute now.  :)  At this point, if still waiting for the pasta, you can remove the cooked chicken to a cutting board, and after resting just a couple of minutes, cut the chicken into slices on the bias.

Divide the pasta among individual bowls, and top each with half of a chicken breast, sliced into pieces, and equal portions of the tomato basil sauce.  Top with more fresh basil and freshly grated Parmigiana reggiano cheese.

 ... and one of the BEST things is...this makes FABULOUS left overs to take to work the next day!