Chicken With Bacon Tomato And Thyme Food

BAKED CHICKEN WITH BACON-TOMATO RELISH

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°. In a shallow bowl, mix bread crumbs, 2 Tbsp. thyme, and 1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper. Place flour and egg in separate shallow bowls. Dip chicken in flour; shake off excess. Dip in egg, then in crumb mixture, patting to help coating adhere. Place chicken on a greased rack in a 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake until a thermometer reads 165°, about 15 minutes., Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain on paper towels. Reserve 2 tablespoons drippings in pan; discard remaining drippings. , Add tomatoes, vinegar, sugar and remaining salt and pepper to drippings; cook and stir until tomatoes are tender, 2-3 minutes. Stir in bacon and remaining thyme. Serve with chicken.

CHICKEN WITH TOMATOES AND BACON

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onions, garlic, bacon and mushrooms and cook until softened-about 10 minutes.
• Remove to a plate and add the chicken pieces to the pan. Brown well on all sides.
• Remove from the pan and add the tomato paste to the pan. Cook, stirring for a couple of minutes, then add the wine, tomatoes water, brown sugar, stock powder and fresh and dry herbs and spices and bring to the boil stirring.
• Return the chicken and bacon vegetable mix to the sauce, cover and simmer for about 1 hour, or until chicken is tender.
• About 15 minutes before serving, remove the lid and stir the olives through.
• With the lid off, increase the heat and allow to thicken to a nice sauce consitency.
• Just before serving, stir the fresh parsley through.
• We ate this over penne pasta, with feta cheese crumbled on top.

GOAT'S CHEESE & THYME STUFFED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Split the chicken breasts almost in half from one long side and open them out like a book. Bat them out a little with a rolling pin to flatten them. Season on all sides. Put half the goat's cheese on each piece of chicken and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Fold the chicken over to enclose the cheese, then wrap each one in two slices of the bacon.
• Lightly oil a shallow gratin dish, then arrange overlapping rows of courgettes and tomatoes over the base. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme sprigs. Sit the chicken on top.
• Bake for 40-45 mins until the bacon is crisp and golden and the courgettes are tender. Serve straight from the dish with new potatoes or good bread.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH THYME, GARLIC AND BACON

Steps:

• Wash the chicken well, removing any excess fat pockets, and trimming the skin lightly if desired. Loosen the skin from the breast and leg meat carefully. Take out any innards trapped in the bones of the cavity and let fresh water clear it out. Dry the chicken well, all of you.
• Combine the thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a bowl. Stir well, adding the lemon zest, and strained juice, if desired.
• Slather some of the mixture into the cavity of the chicken. Put in the chopped bacon.
• Massage the remainder, as deeply as possible, into the breast and leg meat, reaching deep into the drumstick, and around the thighs.
• Tie the chicken legs. If any of the skin tears along the seam of the breast, tape it back together with toothpicks.
• Fit a roasting pan with a rack and add broth to a level that will not touch the chicken.
• Lay in the hen, breast side down and roast at 350 for 40-50 minutes.
• Retrieve the chicken from the oven, turn, breast side up. Continue roasting at 350 until done, and the breast registers 165 degrees in the thickest part. Make sure to take its temperature periodically, I find that people have other things to do and let the chicken cook lazily, thinking that it is never going to be done, and then go to check it, to find that it has already ruined. Check it, at least twice.
• Transfer to a plate, cover loosely with foil, and discard the rack. Transfer the drippings to a measuring cup. Retrieve off most of the fat, you can save some out to add back to the pan, if you feel the desire to have it a little richer, I don't really like a fat gravy.
• Taste the drippings, add more broth if desired.
• Do not have it too salty. Mix some cornstarch into a bowl with a little water or room temperature stock (about 2 tablespoons starch).
• Bring the drippings to a simmer in a small saucepan. Let the pan be slightly below the boil, and add in the starch, by degrees until it is thick and proper.
• Cook, if needed, then serve with the roast, carved up at table.