I am not much of a gardener. Since I never even owned a yard until two years ago, all of my experience has been with things that can grow in pots, and it's been completely hit or miss. One year we had more tomatoes growing on our back deck than we could possibly eat (which is saying a lot for this family), and another year we barely got 1 or 2 each week. One year my petunias grow like wildfire, and another they shrivel up and die (okay, that might have been the year I had my first baby and forgot to water them, and hung them on a covered porch where nary a raindrop could fall, but you get the picture). The only real consistency is my indoor plants, which die pretty much the minute I bring them home, and then remain in their dead and shriveled state as a warning to all other plants that might think this is a good place to call home.
This year, however, I've struck herb gold. The boys and I planted rosemary, thyme, parsley, and basil in pots on our back patio, and they seem to be thriving under my well established system of benign neglect. Which means now I am scrambling to find recipes to use them up - they are so gorgeous and fragrant it seems a sin not to. Here's one I tried last night, adapted from Barefoot Contessa's recipe, and it was fabulous.
Goat Cheese and Basil Chicken Breasts
1 split chicken breast for each person you're feeding (look in the organic section of your meat department, you're more likely to find chicken breasts still on the bone there, and I swear organic chicken tastes better - it actually tastes like chicken, not just bland meat that could be anything)
crumbled goat cheese
4-6 basil leaves
olive oil
salt
pepper
Preheat oven to 375. Wash chicken and pat dry. Gently use your fingers to separate a little bit of the skin from the chicken breasts, making what is essentially a pocket that runs the length of the chicken breasts. (It occurs to me inserting a picture would be helpful here, but I am not that technologically advanced. I would need my friend Leigh to walk me through it, but it's 7:30am her time, so I'm sure she has better things to do right now, like get two children to school and run her company. Plus I already ate the chicken, so I don't have anything to take a picture of.). Be careful not to remove so much that you end up with a flap of chicken skin waving around - that won't do you any good. In the pocket put a basil leaf, then a spoonful of goat cheese. Repeat 3 times, or until your pocket is full of basil and goat cheese. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and pop it in the oven for 40 minutes. Happy eating!
