Chicken with Bacon, Tomato, and Thyme

CHICKEN WITH BACON, TOMATO, AND THYME

Ingredients:
8 pieces bacon, par-cooked half-way (may use precooked)
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into halves
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
2 tablespoons red onion, chopped
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
1 bunch fresh thyme

To prepare:
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
To par-cook bacon, lay slices on a sheet pan and bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for about 10 minutes until half-cooked. Remove and reserve.

Working on a sheet pan, coat the chicken breast with olive oil and minced garlic. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Next, wrap 2 pieces of par-cooked bacon strips criss-cross around each piece of chicken, forming an "x" pattern in the center. Sprinkle with the diced onion and place a thick slice of Roma tomato and a couple sprigs of fresh thyme in the center of each breast, tucked in behind the bacon.

Arrange chicken a little apart from each other on the sheet pan and bake until the chicken is completely cooked and reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 30 minutes.

Serves 4.
George Stella
Low Carb and Lovin' It
recipe from foodnetwork.com

To serve:
One commenter made an interesting suggestion on the original post of this recipe. Catdaddy-n-Dr.Squeeky said...
The chicken recipe looks great. If you wanna kick it up a notch, though, you can serve it on a butternut squash sauce (which goes very well with chicken and herbs).

Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash
1 medum shallot
1/2 cup Spanish brandy
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup maple syrup
Butter
Kosher salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Spices (optional)

To prepare:
Roast a butternut squash (cut in half, seeds out, sprinkled with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper) cut side down on cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil) at 400-425°F for 50-60 minutes, until skin is a little brown and the squash is tender. let cool enough to handle.

In a sauce pan melt some butter (to taste) and saute one medium minced shallot. Once the shallot is translucent, deglaze the sauce pan with about 1/2 cup of spanish brandy (preferably sherry brandy - "brandy de jerez," which gives it a nice sweetness). Once the alcohol evaporates, add about 1/2 cup of chicken stock and about 1/4 cup of maple syrup. Lower the heat to low, then add the flesh of the butternut squash and mix. Adjust consistency by adding chicken stock if too thick. Transfer to blender or use a hand held (the hand held yields a more rustic sauce, the blender a smooth one) and blend until smooth. You can adjust thickness with chicken stock to get as thick or thin a sauce you want.

Once blended, transfer back to sauce pan and simmer for about 5 minutes and taste for salt and pepper. Ready to serve.

Some optional additions are about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon or quattre epices (a french combination of cinnamon, white pepper, cloves, and nutmeg).

What to do with the left over sauce?
-freeze in a freezer bag (squeeze air out)
-mix in some cream and make soup, add grilled shrimp, scallops, or crab meat.

Sounds delicious, no? And as is mentioned this can go with many chicken and herb dishes or can be eaten as a soup as suggested above. Thanks so much to Catdaddy-n-Dr.Squeeky for this wonderful suggestion, and for sharing the recipe!

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