Kerrie Anne's Fridge Magnets: Italian Oven Baked Chicken - who says Medical Diets have to be boring

I love experimenting with spicy food - have done so for years - and then my significant other felt unwell & found himself on a restricted medical diet for a short period. Hmm steamed chicken could get boring night after night.

Naturally I had been worried that my ongoing experiments with international cuisine might not have helped, but I was assured that some herbs & spices were okay, as long as the oil content was controlled.

So for our regular Sunday Night Dinner with my Mum, I found myself looking at Donna Hay's Baked Italian Chicken from "The Instant Cook" - so simple with only a few modifications to suit the medical diet.

First of all it needed Pesto - instintively I started to write it on the shopping list we keep on the fridge. And then I thought of the Basil plants in the vegie patch - they aren't going to last long as winter approaches - already getting ready to go to seed. Yet, there are still so many large luxuriant Basil leaves on each of the bushes.

So I decided on DIY Pesto & consulted Donna Hay's "Short Order Rough Pesto" in her "Modern Classics - Book 1"

1/2 cup fresh Basil leaves from the vegie patch plus 1/2 tspn crushed Garlic, 2 tbspns fresh grated Parmesan cheese, 2 tbspns Olive Oil & 1 1/2 tbspns toasted Pine Nuts - all blended together with a stick blender - Donna Hay just chops the Basil & Pine Nuts, however I preferred to blend them. Although it did take some detaching of the Pesto from the blender's blades !

I only needed 2 tbspns for the Italian Oven Baked Chicken so the rest of the Pesto went into tiny glass jars topped with Pendleton Estate's Extra Virgin Olive Oil 2008 Picual/Frantoio Blend (from South Australia's Limestone Coast) - the Teenager is already making comments about how good Pesto tastes on those mini European toast breads.

Ps. I should mention that I had decided to try toasting the Pine Nuts in the Microwave on a Browning Dish - note to self - next time do it in 20 second intervals - not 60 seconds in one go - as I plucked out the blackened burnt one's from the not so burnt.

Although the Baked Italian Chicken did not include potato or pumpkin I decided to add these to the dish...

Take 2 large Roma Tomatoes & quarter them
Lightly spray large baking dish with cooking spray then place large sheet of baking paper into dish - place quartered tomatoes onto baking paper - very lightly sprinkle or spray with olive oil & grind black pepper over top.
Chop peeled potatoes into slightly larger than bite size chunks & toss into the baking dish - sprinkle with Italian or Tuscan Herbs
Bake for 10-15 minutes at 230oC - remove from oven
Chop peeled butternut pumpkin into slightly larger than bite size chunks & toss into the baking dish - sprinkle with Italian or Tuscan Herbs
Bake for another 20-30 minutes until knife can just penetrate potato chunks but not soft
In the meantime take 2-4 chicken breasts (depending on appetites) & halve spoon 1 tspn Pesto on each piece. Top with 1 tbspn fresh grated Parmesan - then wrap 2 slices Prosciutto around each - however if you don't like Prosciutto just leave it off
(Note - I had bought the Prosciutto from the Leisure Coast Gourmet Deli off Cabbage Tree Lane in Fairy Meadow - north of Wollongong - so popular with The Gong's Italian community - not to mention many others from the 80+nationalities in Wollongong.
Note - I usually prepare these a little ahead of time and leave them in the fridge until ready to bake
Place these on top of potato & pumpkin chunks in baking dish - bake at 200oC for 20-30 minutes until chicken is cooked but still tender and not dry.
Use large egg slice & spoon to gently lift & serve chicken, potato & pumpkin chunks with quartered tomatoes onto plates. Serve with steamed beans. - Serves 4-6