Baked Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes and Garlic

 

baked-chicken-cherry-tomatoes-method-3

This dish produces a lot of flavorful liquid. You can use it for dipping crusty toasted bread. Or, you can remove the chicken, tomatoes, and garlic to a serving dish and pour the strained liquid into a small saucepan and boil until reduced to a thicker sauce. You can pour this sauce back over the chicken or pour it over rice or pasta.

The recipe calls for bone-in thighs. If you make it with boneless thighs you may need to reduce the cooking time by a few minutes.

The recipe calls for skin-on thighs. If you make it with skinless thighs, try to cover the thighs as much as you can with the tomatoes, to help prevent the meat from drying out. If you make it with skinless breasts, do the same, and reduce the cooking time to 25 minutes.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 pounds (900 g) bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 cups of cherry tomatoes (a heaping basket or 25 to 30 cherry tomatoes)
  • 6 whole cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary (or 1/2 teaspoon dry rosemary)

 

serve

1 Arrange chicken thighs in casserole dish, sprinkle with salt: Place chicken thighs in a baking dish that allows for a little room between the thighs. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken thighs with salt.

2 Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

3 Prep cherry tomatoes with garlic, vinegar, oil: Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Place in a bowl with the whole garlic cloves. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

4 Place tomatoes, garlic, rosemary around chicken: Pour the cherry tomatoes over the chicken pieces and arrange so that they are squeezed around the chicken pieces. You want the chicken skins to be exposed so they brown in the oven. Lay sprigs of rosemary over the tomatoes.

(If you are using dry rosemary instead of fresh sprigs, just mix it in with the tomatoes.)

5 Bake: Bake, uncovered for 45 minutes, until the chicken is well browned on the top and cooked through. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Skim the excess chicken fat with a ladle.

 

Serve with toasted crusty bread

 

 

 

from http://www.simplyrecipes.com/