Presto Pesto Chicken

My muse seems to have taken the day off.  I was feeling a little less than inspired to be really creative, so I just made a real simple dinner, made with some leftovers that needed to be used.  Even though I pride myself on my creativity, especially in the kitchen, even I have those days where I am just not feeling up to the challenge.  It happens, even to the best of us.  Fortunately, these days do not happen to often though.

Dinner was just a simple pesto chicken, served with roasted potatoes and sauteed vegetables, with some of my leftover whole wheat potato bread.  Whole Wheat Potato Bread  Nothing fancy; just a simple dinner and a quiet evening.

Pesto chicken with roasted potatoes and sauteed vegetables.

I coated the chicken on both sides with homemade pesto, then I roasted it in the oven at 375* F for about 20 minutes, before turning it over and adding mozzarella cheese and pine nuts.

Quartered red potatoes tossed with garlic, olive oil, salt & pepper.  I roasted both the chicken and the potatoes together.

After about 20 minutes, I stirred the potatoes and flipped the chicken over, then topped it with mozzarella cheese and pine nuts.  I let them both roast for another 20 minutes or so, until the cheese on the chicken was browned and a little crusty.  The pine nuts toasted on top as the chicken was cooking, so no need to toast them before hand.

We always have our veggies.  We eat a wide variety of vegetables all the time.

I sauteed my heartier vegetables first, then added some grape tomatoes right at the very end, so they would not break down.

All that was needed to make this simple meal complete was a glass of wine, and voila!  Presto, pesto. Dinner was served.  I chose a crisp chardonnay with hints of grapefruit to accompany the meal.  It was a nice pairing.