OVEN ROASTED CHICKEN BREAST

I was looking for a recipe for the chicken breast since it's the only meat left in the refrigerator. Then I stumbled upon this classic baked chicken recipe from Simply Recipes. I just twisted it a bit by adding some more spices. I though that it would make the chicken breast more tastier... and it did. If you want the Simply Recipe for this dish, click here.

OVEN ROASTED CHICKEN BREAST

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, halved
1 tomato, halved
7 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, quartered
2 spring onion, quartered
1 lemon grass, quartered
1/4 bell pepper, sliced
salt
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. cornstarch, dissolved in
1/4 cup chicken broth

Procedure:
Pre-heat oven to 400ºF. Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towel. Coat the bottom of roasting pan with olive oil. Rub some olive oil all over the chicken breast in the roasting pan. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken breast with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Arrange the chicken breast skin side up on the roasting pan. Arrange them with a little space in between and around them that they are neither touching each other not touching the roasting pan. Arrange the garlic, onion, spring onion, lemongrass and bell pepper into the sides and between the chicken breast. Place the half of the tomato at the top of the roasting pan and the other half at the bottom of the roasting pan.

Bake for 30 minutes at 400ºF. Then lower the heat to 350ºF for about 20 minutes more (10 minutes per side). You will know it's cooked when the juices comes out clear (not pink) when poked with a knife or toothpick. If your chicken aren't browning to your satisfaction, you can put them under the broiler for about 5 minutes until it turned brown as per your desire.

Remove roasting pan from the oven. Place the chicken on the serving dish with the spices and the tomato. Cover with aluminum foil for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

To make the sauce:
Take the roasting pan where you baked the chicken with the drippings and place over the stovetop on a medium heat. Using a metal spatula, scrape off the drippings stuck on the bottom of the roasting pan. Add a chicken broth to the pan to deglaze it. Pour the deglazed drippings on a sauce pan with the butter. Continue cooking over medium heat until it reaches your desired consistency (not too thick and not too flowy).

Serve your oven roasted chicken breast with steam rice. Or even make it a filling for your flour tortilla with sliced tomato, cucumber and lettuce.