Chicken Breast with Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small jar (6 oz) sun-dried tomatoes in oil, or use 6 oz fat-free sun dried tomatoes
• salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (either from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes, or just use olive oil)
• paprika (just a little bit)
• 2 large chicken breasts, halved horizontally (about 2 lb)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon basil (if using dry basil), if using fresh basil you can add more
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (at least, add more to taste)

Instructions

1. Note: if using sun-dried tomatoes in oil (in a jar), make sure to drain sun-dried tomatoes from oil, before using them. Reserve 2 tablespoons of this drained oil for sauteing as described below:
2. In a large pan, on medium heat, saute garlic and sun-dried tomatoes (drained from oil) in 2 tablespoons of oil (reserved from the sun-dried tomatoes jar - see note above) for 1 minute until garlic is fragrant.
3. Remove sun-dried tomatoes and garlic from the pan, leaving the oil, and add chicken breasts, halved horizontally, salted and lightly covered in paprika (for color) and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side. (that will make 4 flatter chicken breasts, as you can see on the photos above). Cover the pan with the lid, remove from heat, and let the chicken sit, cooking in its own juices, with heat off, until completely cooked through and no longer pink in the center.
4. Remove chicken from the skillet. Chicken could have released juices - in my case it was 1/2 cup of juices. Remove the juices from the skillet, to avoid greasiness.
5. To the same skillet (from which you removed the chicken and the juices), add 1 cup of heavy cream, bring to boil, add 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, immediately reduce to simmer, constantly stirring to melt the cheese. Add 1 cup of milk gradually, whisking until nice and smooth, while on simmer. Add back sun-dried tomatoes and garlic. Add basil and crushed red pepper - mix to combine. Add cooked chicken breasts. Reheat until warm.