Cooking Baking Eating

Balsamic vinegar is one of my favorite things that I really don’t know what to do with half the time. It has the greatest sweet and tangy flavor to it that is fantastic when you dip garlic bread in it.

There is only one main dish I’ve ever had made with balsamic in the actual main dish and as a main flavor. It was someone in college who decided to make us all dinner, and it was awesome. I’ve been trying to figure out how he made it so tasty but I didn’t know how to cook then.

So now I’ve made my own version of it and its pretty darn good. Simple but very tasty.

I also love cooking this in my glass pan. Sometimes I just want to do something different and cook in glass. It wont sear very well but that’s not too much of a problem when I make this dish since I’m just trying to infuse the chicken with the balsamic flavor.

I tend to use a lot of balsamic, mostly because of how I cook this in the pan it gets slightly watered down from the chicken and steam. My house has been really steamy the last few times I’ve cooked, I guess its just been cold in here?

Cooking the chicken slowly also helps the acidic vinegar to really infuse into the chicken and keep it tender. I mostly serve this over pasta, but it would also be good over mashed potatoes. I’m one of those weird ones that likes balsamic drizzled on real mashed potatoes.

I add tomatoes near the end, so that they don’t break down horribly and keep their texture. This time I didn’t cook them at all since they were going in the microwave later and will end up cooking extra there.

I reserve the sauce and juices from the chicken to reduce into a nice and thicker sauce. The balsamic reduces really nicely and I like to add another big splash of vinegar as its reducing to give it an even stronger flavor.

I don’t think there is anything much better than reduced balsamic on tomatoes, it really is the best thing ever.

Top with mozzarella cheese and everything will be right in the world. Mushrooms added with the chicken also makes a great addition and gives it a little more “meat” to it.

Balsamic Chicken and Tomato Pasta
Serves 4

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, divided
• Salt and pepper
• 4 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
• Fresh cooked pasta

1. In a large pan, cook the onion in the oil until soft and translucent.
2. Add the garlic, chicken and half the balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove the chicken and onions from the pan, leaving the liquid in the pan.
4. Add the remaining balsamic vinegar to the pan and reduce to a little more than half.
5. Top the fresh pasta with chicken and tomatoes, drizzle the balsamic sauce over the tomatoes and top with mozzarella cheese.