roasted | No Love More Sincere

Last week, Philly was graced with its 2nd major Blizzard in under 6 days. The whole city pretty much shut down on Wednesday = SNOW DAY! Luckily, I also had off on Thursday as Philly is completely unmanageable under 30+ inches of snow & ice chunks. Dre still had to trudge to work and I wanted to make sure he came home to a warm house and a warm dinner! I had defrosted a whole chicken and searched for a recipe online. My first stop is to see what Kayotic Kitchen has up her sleave. Rustic Roasted Chicken? Sounds perfect to me!

I have an odd obsession with the process of butterflying a whole chicken, or spatchcocking it. I had my first adventure with it last summer for my grilled Chicken Under A Brick. It’s easier to slice & serve and makes sense if you aren’t planning to stuff it. Kayotic Kitchen’s marinade for the chicken was a beautiful crimson (in real life) and super tasty.

Marinating Chicken nestled in Raw Vegetables

I improvised the veggies and such with I had available including baby carrots, shallots, onions, Idaho spuds, green onion, smashed garlic cloves, fresh thyme, & turkey bacon to keep it straight poultry.

Fresh Thyme w/ Vegetables

The 7lb bird took about 2-2.5hrs to cook and had the house smelling delicious when Dre got home from work.

Rustic Roasted Chicken & Vegetables

I whipped up what were supposed to be fluffy cheddar biscuits to serve with the chicken. Instead, I got cheddar pancakes. What more could I expect from mix I picked up from Acme for $1. They were still tasty with some melted butter and reheated perfectly for a quick Leftover Lightning! (in the form of a yummy chicken sammie the next day!)

Cheddar Biscuits turned Pancakes

P.S. I highly suggest you click through to the Kayotic Kitchen blog. Kayleigh’s photos are beautiful and recipes are really amazing & easy to follow. I could only aspire to take ones that great. Her love for food is certainly sincere ❤

I love Thanksgiving! Family, friends, turkey/stuffing/gravy-filled meals, and four days to fill with whatever I felt like doing. I went Black Friday shopping, but dodging salespeople & shopping bags got old pretty quick. I just wanted to be in my warm kitchen cooking yummy food!

The grocery store was pretty empty (whew!), so I quickly grabbed my ingredients… and some Stoli to get me thru a long evening in the kitchen. I’ve got nothing to do tomorrow! I kicked off my prep work at 4pm-ish to have the meal almost complete when Dre got done work. The components of the main dish took up most of my time: roasting grape tomatoes with garlic & fresh basil; sautéing mushrooms with minced onions & butter; and, gleefully pounding chicken breasts to a 1/4 inch thick. Every smokey, juicy morsel of the resulting Roasted Tomato, Mushroom, & Smoked Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Breasts reminded me that it’s always worthwhile.

Tomatoes with Garlic, Basil, & Olive Oil to be Roasted

Just Stuffed

Roasted Tomato, Mushroom & Smoked Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Roasted Tomato, Mushroom & Smoked Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Roasted Tomatoes

Grape Tomatoes – (1-2) pints, halved
Minced Garlic – (2) T or more
Fresh Basil – a few chopped leaves
Olive Oil – (3-4) T, to grease dish & coat tomatoes
S&P

Coat baking dish with olive oil or line with non-stick sprayed foil.
Add all ingredients and toss with olive oil.
Cook 30-40 min in a 400 degree oven. Stir a few times until tomatoes are bubbling, but not burnt.
Make a big batch, leftovers are great on French bread and added to pasta sauce

Sautéed Mushrooms

White Mushrooms or Creminis or Baby Bellas -(2-3) cups, cored and sliced
White Onion – 1/2 med onion, chopped
Butter – (2) T

Melt butter in a saucepan on Med. Add onion & cook about 2 min.
Add mushrooms and give them room to breath. Julia says so.
Stir and cook until tender.
Use leftovers on a quick pizza or in pasta sauce, red or alfredo.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast – (3-4) breasts – trimmed, sliced lengthwise, & pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
Smoked Mozzarella or Gouda – 1 oz per breast
Roasted Tomatoes
Sautéed Mushrooms
Chicken Stock – (1) cup or so
S&P
Stovetop to Oven Sauté Pan
Long toothpicks or Bamboo picks

Pound filleted chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness between sheets of plastic wrap.
Add a few spoonsful of tomatoes & mushrooms onto half of each chicken breast.
Layer slices of smoked cheese.
Fold chicken breast in half and secure by sewing a toothpick or bamboo pic to secure. S&P each side of the breast.
Pan sear breast in olive oil on Med-High until golden brown, about 5 min on each side.
Add chicken stock to pan and bring to a boil.
Cover pan with lid or foil and tranfer to 375 degree oven.
Bake for 20 min, let cool for 5 min, and serve with pan jus.
Leftovers make one KILLER sandwich!