We had a ton of tomatoes in our garden so we decided to put them to work with some basil and chicken thighs.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs – 4 thighs (about 1.5 lbs)
- Olive oil – .5 tbsp
- Half a medium onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- Fresh thyme – 5-6 sprigs
- Red wine – .5 cup (something you’d willingly drink)
- Balsamic vinegar- 2 tbsp
- 4 medium tomatoes
- 5-6 basil leaves
- Salt & Pepper
Preheat oven to 350F.
Start off by liberally seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Then put the olive oil in a deep pan over medium high heat. Cook chicken 3-4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Once the chicken is browned on both sides set it aside.
Leave all the good chicken grease and bits in the pan and lower the heat to medium. Chop up the onion and garlic. Add onion to the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes. Then add garlic, bay leaf, and thyme and cook for another minute or two.
Add the wine and scrape all the good bits off the bottom of the pan. This process is called deglazing and it adds a ton of flavor to your sauce. Let the wine simmer and reduce for about 5-6 minutes. While the wine is simmering chop up the tomatoes using a serrated knife (it is much easier to cut tomatoes with a serrated knife) and chiffanade the basil. To chiffanade, all you need to do is roll the leaves up like a cigar and slice them into strips. Once the wine reduces a little bit add the Balsamic vinegar, tomatoes, and basil.
Stir around the tomatoes, basil, and vinegar. Then add the chicken back into the pan and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the chicken reaches 165F internally.
And that’s it! To serve, smother the thighs with a good helping of sauce with your favorite sides and top with fresh basil. We had ours with Israli couscous and toasts!
Hope you enjoy!
