{"id":1189,"date":"2016-01-30T18:12:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-30T18:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heather-maclean.com\/?p=1189"},"modified":"2016-03-19T20:53:03","modified_gmt":"2016-03-19T20:53:03","slug":"butterfly-basil-chicken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/hungry\/butterfly-basil-chicken\/","title":{"rendered":"Butterfly Basil Chicken"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I&#8217;m always looking for new ways to cook chicken and ways to use the fresh basil growing in my kitchen window. This yummy recipe fits the bill for both. Bonus points: I can usually get my children to eat the couple of bites of zucchini without too much fuss.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Butterfly Basil Chicken<br \/>\nMakes 4 servings<\/p>\n<p>Farfalle means \u201cbutterfly\u201d in Italian, and my kids just love eating the little bow tie\u2013shaped pasta. This is one of our favorite weeknight meals.<\/p>\n<p>4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided<br \/>\n1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar<br \/>\n1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice<br \/>\nSalt<br \/>\nFreshly ground black pepper<br \/>\n4 (6-ounce) boneless and skinless chicken breast halves<br \/>\n3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil<br \/>\n2 medium zucchini, cut into 1\/8-inch-thick rounds<br \/>\n8 ounces farfalline (tiny bow-shaped pasta) or farfalle<br \/>\nChopped fresh Italian parsley for garnish<\/p>\n<p>1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons of oil, the balsamic vinegar, and the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.<\/p>\n<p>2. One at a time, place half a chicken breast between two plastic storage bags. Pound with the flat side of a meat pounder or a rolling pin until the meat is about 1\/2-inch thick. Season the chicken with 1 teaspoon salt and 1\/2 teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle on both sides with the chopped basil.<\/p>\n<p>3. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on both sides and the chicken feels firm when pressed in the center, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a plate, tent with aluminum foil, and keep warm.<\/p>\n<p>4. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the skillet and heat over high heat. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.<\/p>\n<p>5. Meanwhile, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to the package directions until al dente. Drain well.<\/p>\n<p>6. Divide the pasta among 4 deep soup bowls. Top each with a chicken breast half, and then equal amounts of the zucchini. Drizzle each serving with the balsamic vinegar mixture. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve.<\/p>\n<table style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff;\" border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff;\" width=\"40\"><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1020\" src=\"http:\/\/heather-maclean.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Fab.jpg\" alt=\"Mad60s\" width=\"70\" height=\"94\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff;\"><em>&#8211; From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0762442395\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0762442395&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=heathermaclea-20\" target=\"_blank\">Fabulicious!<\/a> by Teresa Giudice with Heather Maclean<\/em><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff;\" width=\"20\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,10],"tags":[34,25,30],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1189"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2986,"href":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189\/revisions\/2986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heather-maclean.com\/heathermacleancooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}