Whenever I was a child, my mom deemed one night a week as "Try a New Recipe Night" for our family. Tonight, my venture was similar, but more like "throw a bunch of stuff together and hope that it works... night." Once again, I attempted a dish I've never made before without the guidance of a recipe.
I wanted to make a Strawberry Balsamic Chicken using the strawberry balsamic vinegar and sweet basil EVOO I purchased at Di Olivas last week. I threw 1 pound of chicken breasts in to marinate this morning before work, with the aforementioned vinegar and EVOO, along with some salt, pepper and dried basil. I used enough liquid to coat the chicken, but there wasn't any excess (I don't want to have to discard the good stuff!).
When I got home this evening (roughly 11 hours later), I put the chicken in the oven to bake. I threw some sliced strawberries and crumbled feta cheese over the top. The feta cheese did not turn out well in this recipe, so I'll scrap that for next time. The strawberries were OK, but I think they added too much sweetness to the dish. So I'll scrap those next time, too. However, the chicken had a fantastic flavor! There was a very subtle sweetness to the chicken that came from the vinegar - this flavor was much more appetizing than the actual strawberries.
I paired the chicken with some couscous that I'd tossed with finely chopped spinach and green onions, lemon juice, salt and pepper and a drizzle of the sweet basil EVOO. Yum! The husband gave dinner two very enthusiastic thumbs up.
A good result, methinks. Another lesson learned and toying with new ingredients is always fun. Oh, and I have to apologize for the lack of pictures. I looked down at my empty plate tonight and thought, "Crap, I forgot to take a picture of the chicken!" I'm still new at this. :b
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