My oldest daughter has to wake up for work VERY early. I am usually still awake when she gets up for work. We also tend to eat dinner much later than your average family, so many nights, she is in the routine of going to bed before dinner is ever done. When she wakes in the morning, she eats the dinner for her breakfast. It’s a switched around way of living, but it’s working for her (and us) at this point.
The night that I cooked this dinner, she was already in bed, like usual. When she woke in the morning, she found her dinner plate made for her like I often do, with plastic wrap covering it and her name written in black Sharpie. She told me how excited she was to eat this dinner and then went on to tell me that when she went to bed, she had fallen asleep but woke up at some point and she could smell the “amazing dinner”. She said when she started smelling it, she kept trying to fall back asleep, but all she could think about was eating that chicken! She said she almost got out of bed to come eat with all of us, but decided she’d regret it in the morning, so she finally found her way back to sleep.
Her words reminded me how about how simple dinners such as this one, can make the same impression on my family as ordering out pizza. This dinner was simple, didn’t take a million steps, and filled my home with delicious smells. And it doesn’t take a million steps. And, it didn’t cost a lot either.
The first part of this dinner is to get the chicken in the oven. For the chicken, you will need 5-6 chicken breasts, whole dried rosemary, garlic, butter, and olive oil. You’ll also need salt and pepper. I used Foster Farms Chicken Breasts, Bone-In, Family Pack, which is on sale this week at Smart & Final for $.99 per lb. I use boneless, skinless chicken breast often, but for this meal it works much better with the bone-in, skin on breasts.
Finely chop the garlic and roughly chop the rosemary. Watch for flying needles when you are chopping that rosemary up! Both the garlic and the rosemary is combined with slightly softened butter.
With your fingers, carefully separate the chicken skin from the chicken breast. You don’t want to remove it all the way…just enough so you can spread part of the garlic/butter mixture under the skin like you seen in the photo below.
Smooth the skin down on top of the garlic/butter mixture. Repeat with the rest of your chicken breasts. Place them on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until the thickest part of the breast registers 160 degrees on a meat thermometer.
While your chicken is cooking, you can get started on the Parmesan Linguine. This dish is VERY simple, but it’s one of those side dishes that my family is absolutely in love with. First, you’ll want to cook 1 pound of linguine according to the package instructions. I used La Romanella Pasta, which is on sale this week at Smart & Final for $.99 cents – such a great price for organic pasta. Plus you get it free when you buy Redwook Creek Wine, 750 ML (please see store for details). When the pasta is finished cooking, reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water (I usually save more than that, just in case) and drain off the rest.
Finely chop 1-2 cloves of garlic. This garlic can be left out if you wish – sometimes I used it, sometimes I don’t.
Before placing the pasta back into the pot, melt the butter, add the garlic and sprinkles of salt and pepper. Saute the garlic for about 1 minute. Add the pasta back into the pot and toss with the melted butter and garlic. Sprinkle in 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese, toss with the pasta. Add some of the pasta water if necessary (if it appears too dry). Then sprinkle in the remainder of the Parmesan cheese and toss again. Add more pasta water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
So, there you have it! It’s a great meal for Sunday night dinners, but also easy enough for weekdays. That’s my kind of dinner!
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Here’s the complete recipe and an option for printing:
Rosemary Garlic Chicken Breasts with Parmesan Linguine
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 5-6
Ingredients
3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons whole dried rosemary, roughly chopped
1/4 cup butter, slightly softened
5-6 Foster Farms Chicken Breasts, Bone-In (on sale this week at Smart & Final for $.99 per lb)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Parmesan Linguine
1 lb La Romanella Linguine Pasta (on sale this week at Smart & Final for $.99 cents)
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup butter
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Instructions
Grease a baking sheet and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine chopped garlic and rosemary with the butter.
Salt and pepper the underside of each chicken breast. With fingers, carefully separate chicken skin from chicken, but do not remove completely. Spread part of the garlic/butter mixture evenly under the skin. Smooth down the skin on top of the butter mixture and place chicken breast on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts.
Drizzle each chicken breast with a bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes or until the thickest part of the breast registers 160 degrees on a meat thermometer.
While chicken is cooking, prepare the Parmesan Linguine. Cook pasta according to instructions on package. When pasta is done, but before draining, reserve at least 1 cup of pasta cooking water.
In the same pot the pasta cooked in, melt the butter and cook the garlic for about 1 minutes. Add pasta back to the pot and toss with the melted butter/garlic. Sprinkle pasta with 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese and toss to combine. If dry, add some of the reserved pasta cooking water. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese and toss to combine. Add more reserved pasta cooking water, if necessary, so pasta is not dry.
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This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias. All opinions, as always, are 100% my own.
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