I’ve been having a great time revisiting recipes from the very first year of my Ina Garten project – the ones I made once, loved, and then somehow never came back to! Over the summer, I wrote a piece for Simply Recipes comparing three of Ina’s most popular chicken recipes which brought me back to this gem: Chicken with Goat Cheese & Basil!
The hardest part will be finding a boneless, skin-on chicken breast. You can always ask your butcher to debone them (or do it yourself), or just leave the bone in – they’ll need more cooking time and be a little harder to slice, but just as delicious.
Once you’ve got your chicken ready, you just place slices of garlic and herb goat cheese and a fresh basil leaf under the skin, rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake until golden.
The chicken turns out juicy, the warm goat cheese adds a creamy tang, and the basil brings a bright, peppery freshness to every bite. We paired it with Ina’s shallot couscous and my Brown Butter Asparagus with Toasted Almonds. Yum!
Book: Barefoot Contessa at Home, page 114
Rating: 5/5
How Easy Is That: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: garlic and herb goat cheese
Pricey Ingredients: —
Hard-to-find: —
Recipe on BarefootContessa.com
