Donna Hay’s Oven-Baked Balsamic Chicken
Piece of cake.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, trimmed of fat, pounded slightly to be of even thickness (Donna doesn’t specify this, but I find that breasts tend to be larger these days and need it)
- 4 thick slices eggplant
- 1 x400g tin of whole peeled tomatoes, drained and quartered. (I don’t bother to drain & just chopped a bit is fine)
- 2 tbsp salted capers, rinsed
- 1 tbsp olive oil (more doesn’t hurt, throw it in)
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar (more doesn’t hurt, throw it in)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- ¼ cup basil leaves (honestly any herb will do)
- salt, pepper
Instructions
- The great thing about this is you can prepare everything in advance, leave the baking dish in the fridge until you’re ready to eat, and just throw in the oven half an hour before your lucky diners sit down.
- Salt the sliced aubergine. Leave for half an hour. Rinse off. (Donna doesn’t do this in her recipe but I’ve been doing it forever with eggplant).
- Preheat oven to 200℃/400℉.
- Put sliced eggplant on the bottom of a baking dish, or a tray lined with baking paper. Put a chicken breast on top of the eggplant.
- Combine tomatoes, oil, balsamic, sugar capers and put over chicken breast, ensuring each breast is nicely covered with tomato and topping.
- Cook for approx 25 minutes or until cooked through. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and herbs.
- Serve with lots of the sauce. Serve with steamed greens or potato, salad, or crusty bread.