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.

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.

Caprese chicken recipe

Ingredients

4 (small) chicken breasts
4 thick slices of fresh mozzarella
20 cherry tomatoes (approximately)
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar (optional)
Chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Paprika powder

1. Season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika.
2. In a frying pan, brown the chicken in a little olive oil, about 3 minutes on each side.
3. Remove the chicken to a heat-proof tray or container, and place it in the oven at 200ºC for about 20 minutes.
4. Place a slice of cheese on each breast, and return it to the oven just so that the cheese melts (2 or 3 minutes).
5. Before serving, decorate with cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and balsamic vinegar.

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This savory cake with typical portuguese ingredients is ideal to serve with a salad to take to lunch at work, for a picnic, or even to the beach.

Inspired by the other arugula cake previously published here on the blog, I made a less vegetarian version with more Portuguese (or perhaps Iberian) flavors using chorizo, onions, and olives.

One of the advantages of this type of recipe is that it can be made the day before (and I guarantee that this cake tastes even better the next day than on the day itself...) and is well preserved if we want to savour it outside the home.

The ingredients

• Arugula/rocket leaves (for salad)
• Eggs
• Flour and baking powder - self-raising flour can also be used, in which case the teaspoon of baking powder is omitted.
• Olive oil - in this case, olive oil has two functions: to be the fat chosen as the base ingredient of this savory cake, and also to be the fat used to sauté the onion.
• Milk - you can use any type of milk, but if using vegetable milk you must take into account the flavor that will add to the recipe. Here I used oat milk.
• Cheese - for this recipe I prefer to use mozzarella cheese that has a relatively neutral flavor but can be substituted for Edam type of cheese.
• Onion - I chose to use fresh onion that is then sautéed in olive oil, to remove some of the onion's moisture and also add more flavor.
• Chorizo ​​- I used chorizo ​​that is bought thinly sliced, but you can substitute this for bacon cut into strips.
• Olives - since the quantity is still significant and to save time, I bought black olives that were already pitted and sliced.
• Garlic powder - in savory cakes I prefer to use this dry seasoning instead of fresh garlic because it is better distributed in the dough. However, chopped garlic can be used which will be sautéed along with the onion.
• Salt and Pepper - these are two basic spices that we use in almost everything.

How to make

• Start by chopping the onion and sauteeing it in a frying pan, using 1 or 2 tablespoons of the olive oil mentioned in the recipe.
• Allow it to cool before adding to the preparation.
• Beat the eggs, adding the spices - salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
• Later, the other liquid ingredients are added - olive oil (amount which was not used to sauté the onion), milk, and also the grated cheese.
• The arugula is removed from the package, and the leaves are checked, as there are usually some that may be wilted and must be discarded. If necessary, rinse them again and drain well before adding the arugula leaves to the egg mixture.
• Drain the slices of olives well from the jar and add to the preparation.
• Cut the chorizo ​​slices into thin strips (an easier way to do this is to cut the slices using kitchen scissors instead of using a knife), and place them in the bowl of the preparation.
• Once cooled, the onion can also be added to the other ingredients.
• Previously, the baking powder is well mixed with the flour, and then gradually the flour is added to the preparation so that there are no lumps, involving everything very well.
• Grease a loaf pan (in this case, 18x10cm) and line it with parchment paper.
• The preparation is poured into the pan and cooked at 180ºC, between 45 to 50 minutes.

Arugula, olives, onion & chorizo cake recipe

1. In a frying pan or small saucepan, brown the chopped onion using part of the oil in the recipe.
2. Reserve until cool.
3. In a bowl, beat the eggs and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
4. The remaining olive oil, milk, and grated cheese are added.
5. Cut the chorizo ​​slices into thin strips.
6. Arugula, onions, sliced ​​olives, and chorizo ​​strips are added to the preparation.
7. In a bowl mix the flour with the baking powder.
8. Gradually, the flour is well wrapped in the preparation.
9. Place in a loaf pan previously greased and lined with parchment paper.
10. Bake at 180ºC for about 45 to 50 minutes.

 

The ingredients

• Wild arugula leaves (for salad)
• Eggs
• Flour and baking powder - self-raising flour can also be used, in which case the teaspoon of baking powder is omitted.
• Olive oil - I prefer extra virgin olive oil that will also add flavor to the cake, but in the absence of it you can use vegetable oil, neutral coconut oil, or grapeseed oil.
• Milk - you can use any type of milk, but if using vegetable milk you must take into account the flavor that will add to the recipe.
• Cheese - for this recipe I like to use 2 different types of cheese, 50gr of mozzarella and 50gr of S. Jorge's island cheese (9 months cure), but can be substituted for others like Emmental or Cheddar cheese.
• Walnuts - the cheese-arugula-walnut combination is almost a classic, so I decided to use it here too, but the walnuts can be substituted for laminated almonds, which will also make a crunchy cake.
• Onion and Garlic powder - in savory cakes I prefer to use these dry spices instead of the fresh ones because they are better distributed in the dough, but as it can still be difficult to find powdered onion, it can be replaced by chopped fresh onion and lightly sauteed in olive oil (using part of the olive oil in the recipe).
• Salt and Pepper - are two basic spices that we use in almost everything, but I reduced the amount of salt since I use S. Jorge's island cheese that is saltier than mozzarella; when using other cheeses, always take their salt into account in the recipe.

How to make

Arugula, cheese and walnut cake recipe

1. Beat the eggs, and add the olive oil and milk.
2. Season with salt, pepper, garlic and onion.
3. Add the arugula leaves, as well as the grated cheese and chopped nuts.
4. Gradually add the flour mixed with the baking powder.
5. Place in an loaf cake pan previously greased and lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake at 180ºC for about 40 to 45 minutes.