Feta Stuffed Chicken With Roasted Tomatoes

Last night I had the pleasure of cooking for my Granny on her birthday, along with the rest of the fam-a-lam. I headed to the Sainsburys with the idea of the usual pan fried sea bass that always pleases the crowd; but as they’d sold completely out and had a chicken offer on I took a different route and this delightful Mediterranean inspired dish was the outcome.

Stuffed with feta cheese (which melts like a dream when baked) and seasoned simply with one of my favourite herbs which is oregano – the combination of this with the tomatoes is an absolute winner and I even had a text from Granny herself asking for the recipe immediately. Now Jackie Bradshaw knows her food, so I felt rather touched that she should want to recreate it herself!

The great thing is that you can bung it all in the same dish; keeping the washing up to the minimum. Pair with new potatoes and green beans – you don’t need any fancy sides because all the show stopping flavour is in that chicken. Enjoy!

What you need:

• 5 large chicken breasts
• 5 slices feta cheese
• 1 lemon
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• small handful fresh oregano (use dried if you can’t get this)
• 5 big tomatoes on the vine, halved

What you need to do:

• Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil, salt, pepper and the juice of the lemon. Leave to marinate for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.
• Place the chicken in the dish with the tomatoes  and cut a slit in each breast to form a pocket and place the feta cheese inside.
• Add the tomatoes, sprinkle over the oregano, season a little more and drizzle over more oil.
• Bake in the oven for 35 minutes until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Enjoy!