Sisterly Suggestion: Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Vinaigrette

I went through a phase a couple years ago where I watched every episode of Everyday Italian. It became a ritual every night after work while my husband was in class (thank goodness for TiVo). You may have noticed that I am a fan of Giada de Laurentiis’ recipes. (She can do no wrong in my book.) One recipe that I saw her make but never tried was her Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Vinaigrette. It looked like a great idea, but what would I do with a whole chicken? Especially when my husband is a breast man. (That is, boneless, skinless chicken breasts.)

Just a couple of weeks ago my sister mentioned to me that she made this recipe with chicken breasts, instead of a whole chicken. As she was raving about how good it was I was thinking to myself, “…why didn’t I think of that?” So I tried it myself with four chicken breasts, and this was easy and tasty (so says my husband). I paired it with herbed polenta, and he has been dining on this all week!

Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Vinaigrette
(From Everyday Italian)
Ingredients
* 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
* 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 2 garlic cloves, chopped
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1 (4-pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces (giblets, neck and backbone reserved for another use) (*Kate used 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts - please see baking note below)
* 1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth
* 1 teaspoon lemon zest
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions
Whisk the vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper in small bowl to blend. Combine the vinaigrette and chicken pieces in a large resealable plastic bag; seal the bag and toss to coat. Refrigerate, turning the chicken pieces occasionally, for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat the oven to 400°F*. Remove chicken from the bag and arrange the chicken pieces on a large greased baking dish. Roast until the chicken is just cooked through, about 1 hour*. If your chicken browns too quickly, cover it with foil for the remaining cooking time. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Place the baking dish on a burner over medium-low heat. Whisk the chicken broth into the pan drippings, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the baking sheet with a wooden spoon and mixing them into the broth and pan drippings. Drizzle the pan drippings over the chicken. Sprinkle the lemon zest and parsley over the chicken, and serve.

*Note - If you're baking chicken breasts, I recommend baking at 350°F for approximately 40-45 minutes.