Balsamic Rosemary Chicken

Cooking is one my favorite hobbies. And yes, I’m single ;). I’m a pretty terrible artist, and my musical talent is limited to the shower version of American Idol, but if I had to pick something creative that I am good at it would be cooking. I love cooking my own meals because it lets me control what I put into my body…no preservatives, chemicals, and other artificial crap--just natural goodness. Cooking is so interesting because it lets you combine thousands of unique flavors and ingredients, add a little heat, and voila…you have something entirely new and hopefully delicious. It’s food science. That flavor fusion is what’s so exciting. If you play around with different recipes, cooking techniques, and combinations of ingredients you’ll always end up something new. Yeah…some of those experiments will end up being pretty gross, but once you come up with something delicious it’ll be totally worth it and make a great dinner (or breakfast or lunch).

One of my favorite recipes is Balsamic Rosemary Chicken. It’s really easy to make, and quite frankly it’s pretty hard to screw up even if you’re convinced that you can’t cook. It has such a robust, distinct flavor, and it’s a nutritional powerhouse. It’s loaded with muscle-building, fat-incinerating protein, and lots of heart healthy mono/polyunsaturated fats. Plus it's low calorie, low in sodium, and has no carbohydrates!

Here’s the nutrition info for a 4oz piece of chicken (about the size of a deck of cards/your palm):

Serving: 4oz

Calories: 227

Fat: 8.5g

Sat. Fat: 1.5g

Sodium: 80mg

Total Carbs: 0

Protein: 35.2g

Calcium: 17mg

  

What you’ll need:

·         Raw chicken breasts, boneless, skinless

·         Balsamic vinegar

·         Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

·         Fresh or dried rosemary

·         1 clove of Garlic

·         Salt and pepper

·         Lemon/Lemon juice

·         Pam

·         Roasting pan, 1 big Ziploc bag or a big bowl, tin foil, oven

When I make this recipe I usually cook about 10 breasts at a time, that way it lasts me for an entire week. They’re great as leftovers throughout the week whenever you want a quick, delicious, and healthy meal. The amount you make is totally up to you.

We’re going to prepare a marinade, marinade the chicken overnight, and then roast it the next day. Don’t worry if the Ziploc bag/bowl seems like it has too much liquid in it, whatever the chicken doesn’t soak up you’ll just pour out. It’s better to have more marinade and let it completely cover the chicken and soak it up, than to have too little. If you don’t make enough marinade the chicken’s flavor won’t be as robust. Because this is a marinade the measurements are pretty arbitrary…we’re not baking here, it doesn’t have to be exact. The only ingredients that you need to be careful not to over add are salt and lemon juice. Over adding either of those will ruin the chicken. Here's what to do:

Steps:

1.       Trim off all of the visible fat and skin and put them in a big Ziploc bag or bowl (whichever you have). Chicken fat/skin has a ton of calories and is primarily nasty saturated fat. This is a healthy recipe, keep it healthy and trim it off!

2.       Pour enough balsamic vinegar into the bag to completely coat/cover the chicken.

3.       Add 2 tablespoons of EVOO for every 5 chicken breasts (If you have 10 chicken breasts use 4 tablespoons of EVOO).

4.       Add 1 minced clove of garlic.

5.       Cut a lemon in half and add only 1 squeeze to the bag (not all of the juice in the half). If all you have is a bottle of lemon juice, add one small squirt. If you’re using a lemon take a knife and grind off a small amount of the rind (the yellow skin) and add it to the bag.

6.       Add enough rosemary to coat all of the chicken breasts (a lot).

7.       Add a dash of salt and pepper

8.       This is the fun part! Wash your hands. Stick ‘em in the bag/bowl and massage the chicken with the marinade. Make sure that everything is fully covered. Leave all of the excess marinade in the bag/bowl.

9.       Close the Ziploc bag/cover the bowl with plastic wrap or tin foil and stick it in your fridge. Let it marinade overnight.

10.   Once your chicken’s done marinating preheat the oven to 350 degrees

11.   Pam the bottom of a roasting pan and add the chicken. Throw out the left over marinade. Cover the pan with foil.

12.   Cook the chicken for 45 minutes.

13.   Once it’s done let it cool down and enjoy!

Tip: Whenever you reheat the chicken make sure to cover it with plastic wrap so that it doesn’t dry out.

Hopefully the chicken comes out delicious and you enjoy it. Let me know how it comes out.

Happy cooking!