TLC Challenge - Roast Chicken with Cheese. Roasted Tomatoes & Salsa

The Cooks Journal Forum has a monthly TCJ Challenge and last month’s winner Carolyn picked three ingredients for this months challenge. Every challenger has to incorporate each chosen ingredient into his or her recipe. This month the three ingredients are; chicken, cheese and tomatoes.

Now for the best bit folks!! You don’t need a blog or web site to join in with this challenge; all that is needed is for YOU to join the forum, simple isn’t it! Getting better even still, Carolyn is even providing an award for the winner of this month’s challenge of a cute tea towel and tredny cleaning cloths!! Come on folks what are you waiting for? Join up to “The Cooks Journal forum” and join in on the Challenge, and YOU just maybe the lucky winner this month!! See you there on The Cooks Journal Forum………..

The chicken to this dish is very moist, tender and flavoursome, which makes a wonderful creamy juicy sauce from the cream cheese as it cooks – slurp -drool. (Of course you could use chicken thighs and or chicken legs instead of chicken breast meat for more flavour). Now for the tomatoes, they have a sweet roasted flavour from the garlic and sugar. Coming onto the side dish of salsa, this gives a lovely light fresh bite of textures and flavours to serve with the rich creamy chicken. You could simply serve this dish with your chosen veggies etc, which I am sure will complement the chicken dish to your own selected requirements.


Roast Chicken with Cheese. Roasted Tomatoes & Salsa

Serves 3

Ingredients
For The Chicken & Tomatoes
3 large chicken breasts –with skin on
200g (8 oz) tub of cream cheese with garlic & herbs – I used Philadelphia light
3 medium tomatoes – cut in half
1 clove garlic – crushed & chopped finely
A little olive oil
A little caster sugar
Freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp dried thyme - for sprinkling
For The Salsa
1 small red onion – thinly sliced
1 ripe avocado – peeled and cut into smallish cubes
2 tomatoes – skinned, deseeded and cut into small strips
A little extra virgin olive oil
½ juice from a large lime
Freshly ground pepper & a little sea salt

Double line a roasting tin with foil (tip it saves scrubbing the tin when washing up).

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/400°F/Gas mark 6.

For the chicken when washed and patted dry, carefully loosen the skin with your fingers on each breast to make a pocket. Place half of the cream cheese on a plate and place the rest back in the fridge, which is not needed. With a teaspoon fill each chicken pocket between the skin and breast meat with the garlic & herb cream cheese. Place into the prepared roasting tin. Place the tomato halves into the roasting tin in available spaces. Drizzle a little olive oil over the chicken and tomatoes then sprinkle over with freshly ground black pepper and the dried thyme. Just over the tomatoes sprinkle a little caster sugar on each half. Place into the preheated oven and roast for about 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Meanwhile whist the chicken is cooking put together the salsa. In a bowl add the thinly sliced red onion, strips of tomato, cubes of avocado. Sprinkle over the lime juice and a little extra virgin olive oil. Toss all the ingredients together making sure they all coated in the lime and olive oil dressing. Add freshly grated pepper and sea salt to taste. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge until the chicken is ready to serve.

Serve the chicken with tomatoes and salsa spooning over the chicken the creamy juices from the pan.

You could also serve this with roasted potatoes crushed with a fork with added thinly sliced spring onions, Parmesan and Gruyere cheese melted into the roast potatoes towards the end of cooking time.