from my orchid kitchen

Inspired by the traditional and delicious Italian Caprese salad, this is a quick and healthy way to serve succulent chicken breasts topped with melted mozzarella cheese, ripe cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and a touch of balsamic that the whole family will love.

This recipe is very similar to the "Chicken with pesto, tomato and mozzarella" that I already presented here, except that instead of chicken steaks I use small whole breasts, I change the pesto sauce for fresh basil, the salad tomato for cherry, and the melting cheese is fresh mozzarella.

The Ingredients

 

• Chicken - For the oven cooking times mentioned, whole but small chicken breasts are recommended, or 2 large breasts cut in half lengthwise instead.
• Mozzarella cheese - to obtain thick slices I simply used 2 pieces of fresh mozzarella cheese cut in half but can be replaced by pizza grated cheese.
• Cherry tomatoes - the chicken can also be served with another kind of tomato sliced or cut into pieces.
• Salt and Pepper - basic seasonings in savory dishes
• Powdered garlic and Paprika - are also quite common when it comes to chicken meat seasoning, but can be replaced by chopped fresh garlic or other herbs/spices to taste.
• Balsamic vinegar - it's optional, but in Caprese salad, it is very common to use it as a seasoning and it also complements well with the flavors present in this recipe.

How to make

 

• Start by seasoning the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. To make them more succulent, they can be left in brine in a proportion of 1 tablespoon for each 250ml of cold water (use enough water to cover all the meat) for 2 hours or at least 30 minutes, and drain it well before adding other spices (in this case it is not necessary to season it with salt, just the pepper).
• Then season with garlic powder and paprika on both sides.
• A frying pan is placed on the stove with a little olive oil where the chicken breasts will be seared for about 3 minutes (on each side), to also gain a little color.
• The oven is turned to 200ºC, and the chicken breasts are layered on a tray or other container that can stand oven heat, previously greased with a little olive oil. Bake for about 20 minutes.
• After that time, remove from the oven and place a slice of cheese over each breast, returning them to the oven for another 2 or 3 minutes (enough for the cheese to melt).
• Serve the chicken sprinkled with chopped basil, a little balsamic vinegar to taste, and the cherry tomatoes (those who like roasted cherry tomatoes can add them to the chicken breasts during cooking.