Basil Chicken Hash

I recently was organizing my recipes when I came acrossed this basil chicken hash recipe by Ina Garten. I had never made it but apparently I wanted to because I printed it out and put it in my book. I decided to give it a try. It sounded delicious, but I was a little nervous for the chicken part. For some reason, I dont know why but I always get intimidated when a recipe calls for chicken breast with skin on and bone in. I had never cooked with it before but I decided to give it a try. I was so surprised at how easy it was to make. It comes out incredibly juicy and moist and the flavor is unbelievable. For this recipe you tuck fresh basil leaves under the skin, the flavor of the basil just seemed to infuse the whole piece of chicken. It was so good! And another plus to chicken breast with bone in is that they are a lot cheaper than boneless chicken breast. This is such a yummy recipe. I have made it twice in two weeks. It is such a comforting meal while at the same time not leaving you feeling stuffed. You could make this dish for any meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner. I have some extra that I can wait to eat for breakfast! O-and my husband looooves this! Hope you have time to give it a try!

Ingredients

• 2 whole (4 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
• 16 basil leaves
• Olive Oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and large diced
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, large diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 4 minced scallions, white and green parts
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh leaf parsley
• Sour cream, Cheddar and sliced lemons, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers, leaving one side attached. Place 4 basil leaves under the skin of each chicken breast. Pull the skin over as much of the meat as possible so the chicken won't dry out. With your hands, rub each piece with olive oil and sprinkle very generously with salt and pepper. Bake the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes, until the skin is lightly browned and the chicken is just cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones. Cut the chicken in large dice pieces and set aside.

Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large saute pan. Add the potatoes and onions, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until evenly browned and cooked through.

In a separate saute pan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the red peppers, garlic, thyme, paprika, tomato paste, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the edges of the peppers are seared.

Add the chicken and the pepper mixture to the potatoes and heat through. Add the scallions and parsley, toss together and place on a serving platter.