bruschetta with chicken

 

Today was my turn to make dinner again. At work I was looking through our Cook This, Not That book and saw a recipe for bruschetta. Unfortunately, this dish is traditionally just a served as a appetizer. After surfing the web for a bit, I came across this recipe for bruschetta with chicken, thus allowing my dish to graduate onto being an entree with a minimal amount of extra work.

The first part of making bruschetta is finding a good baguette to use as your base. I bought just a regular French baguette fresh from my local grocery. Slice into medium pieces (best to cut at an angle in order to increase the surface area). Then place slices on a cookie sheet, brush with extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle on mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes, or until the cheese is a light brown.

 

  The next step comes the the topping for the bruschetta. I choose to go with a traditional tomato based mixture, but their are plenty of variations and ingredients you can try. Use 8 chopped Roma tomatoes, 1/2 of an onion (minced), 2 cloves of garlic (minced), 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and a teaspoon of dried basil (or a tablespoon of fresh if you have it). Stir together, and add salt & pepper to taste.

 

And for the extra addition to this dish, the chicken. Slice the chicken breasts into bite size pieces and cook on high in a frying pan with olive oil. The chicken would taste great with this dish cooked on the grill as well. But for me, I chose to just simply cook it on the stove. Season with salt and pepper.

 

There you have it! Just grab a piece of bread (or two!) then top it with the tomato mixture and chicken and you've successfully made a simple, easy, and healthy dish. This recipe can also be altered and made into a delicious chicken bruschetta sandwich! Thanks to Matt and Shari for this awesome recipe.