Chicken roasted on eggplant and tomatoes

“Time is priceless. Which is why in the instant cook Donna Hay has assembled 177 deliciously simple recipes using fresh ingredients in fuss-free ways.” It is at this point of the quote that I realised I was about to prepare another Donna Hay recipe. Not that I am complaining! I was convinced that for the 2nd recipe I was going to prepare something from one of Nigella Lawson books’. I remember discussing with my husband that I wanted the first few challenges showcasing female chefs. I got caught out with the recipe book holder on my kitchen bench being opened to this particular chicken roast on eggplant and tomatoes. Instinctively I went along with this recipe. 

I try to alternate the recipe book on the bench every couple of days in the week. It lightens up the room and is quite inspiring. So don’t be surprised if I was to prepare more of Donna Hay in the future. I must admit that three quarter of the books in my book shelf is from her! I read an interesting article, this week while researching female chefs, titled “6 famous female chefs who changed the world of cooking”. I must admit that apart from Rachel Khoo I’ve never heard or seen any cooking show from the others: Rachael Ray, Cristeta Comerford, Alice Waters, Julia Child and Clare Smyth. 

While learning about them was a great discovery, it was particularly the concluding line of the article that inspired me. It reads: “Not everyone is a famous celebrity chef, but I hope that they inspire you to take action in your own life to follow your passion and explore your creativity, no matter what other people say!”

These lines are quite inspiring in that I can see myself through it and a lot of Steemians who have decided to use this platform to showcase their culinary skills. Maybe if we were to use the traditional social media we wouldn’t have the same audience or encouragement. Not sure if you’ve noticed but social media, in general, tend to bring the worst out of most people. But the opposite seem to occur on Steemit where everyone is very helpful and supportive. I’ve had first hand experience of that and is forever grateful. In turn I try to provide constructive criticism and tips to help out others or while I can’t fault anything a blogger has done, just provide them with my most sincere encouragement.

For this particular recipe I ran out of parmesan cheese (somehow overrated according to my humble opinion) and used Halloumi cheese. I particularly enjoy the rubbery texture and strong salty flavour of this cheese. It is easy to manipulate when used with other ingredients.  Unlike the first dish I’ve showcased, I only scored this recipe a 2 for the following reasons: 1) I’m not a big eggplant as it is not something I’m used to growing up in Poland and 2) despite the Mozzarella and Halloumi cheeses I felt like it lacks salt. Adding more salt would have shifted the balance of flavour for the dish. The other reason (3) this dish didn't score a 3 is because I had to complement it with some crumbed cauliflower, otherwise I might have had to deal with grumpy and hungry husband all night!

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant, thickly sliced
• 3 truss tomatoes, sliced
• 1 tbs oregano leaves
• sea salt and cracked black pepper
• 2 chicken breast fillets, halved
• 4 slices of Halloumi cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Mozzarella cheese

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place the eggplant slices on the tray and top with the tomatoes, oregano, salt, and pepper.





2. Top each pile with a chicken breast and place the Halloumi cheese on top and sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese.





3. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the chicken cooked through.