Chicken Caprese

When I was a sophmore in college I studied abroad in Florence, Italy and I had a problem. I was craving salads and the Italians just didn't do a garden salad like they have in the US. My Italian was minimal and so every time I went to a restaurant I read about lechuga, tomate and mozarella and figured that sounded like a pretty good little house salad. Um, no. But I never learned my lesson. Every time I forgot about the time before and inevitably they brought me a plate of tomatoes with fresh basil and fresh mozarella. I hated tomatoes.

Luckily, I've outgrown that phase and now cannot get enough of the Insalta Caprese. I'm craving spring, warm weather, and our garden full of fresh tomatoes. In the meantime, I came up with this dish, Chicken Caprese, to help with the winter blues. And boy did it!

You Need:

Chicken Breasts (I had three)
1 tomato sliced medium thickness
1 ball of fresh mozarella
fresh basil
salt and pepper
olive oil

Season the chicken with salt and pepper and rub with a little olive oil (this will prevent it from sticking to the grill). Let the chicken set to warm to room temp before cooking.

Prep the topping: slice tomatoes and mozarella and ribbon the basil. Since the tomatoes weren't in season, I added a little balsamic vinegar.

Once you grill the meat (make sure to cook all the way), then you can top each chicken breast with two slices of tomatoes and two slices of mozarella. Let the grill heat the tomato and melt the cheese.

I sauteed sugar snap peas and baby carrots to go with the chicken.

Spring on a plate!