Balsamic Chicken Breasts with Crispy Mint and Pine Nuts
A quick roast in a hot oven then into a delicious sweet-sour, Italian-styled sauce to finish cooking. This easy chicken dish is ideal for rush-hour entertaining.
- Prep time:
- 10 mins + marinating
- Cook time:
- 25 mins
- Serves:
- 6
- 6 single chicken breasts, skin on
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
Sauce:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 whole sprigs mint
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- salt
- ½ cup whole mint leaves, fried for about 40 seconds in hot grapesed oil
- ½ cup pine nuts, toasted
Mix chicken with balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least ½ hour, or up to 12 hours.
To make sauce, heat oil in a large heavy fry-pan and gently cook garlic for a few seconds. Add stock, wine and whole mint sprigs. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until reduced to ⅓ of the volume. Add ginger. Remove from heat and discard mint. Sauce can be made well ahead of time and refrigerated.
To cook chicken, pre-heat oven to 220°C. Season marinated chicken with salt and place skin side up on a shallow baking tray and bake for 15 minutes until golden. At the end of cooking, brush any cooking juices over the skin to give it a great colour. Heat sauce and add marinade from the chicken. Remove chicken from oven, add to hot sauce, simmer very gently on lowest heat for 5-10 minutes. Place chicken on hot dinner plates, spoon over sauce and top with fried mint leaves and toasted pine nuts. Try serving the chicken with potatoes and steamed green beans.
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