Chicken Bruschetta Salad

Ingredients:
-4 large ripe tomatoes
-About 1/3 cup olive oil
-1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
-Salt and pepper
-1 tbs butter
-1/4 cup Parmigian Cheese
-8 fresh basil leaves
-2 heads fresh garlic (or about 16 cloves)
-1 head lettuce
-1 tbs Red Wine Vinegar
-2 chicken breasts

1) Prepare vegetables. Cut a small X on the bottom of each tomato, scoring just through skin. Peel and finely chop garlic. Finely chop basil. Wash and cut lettuce.

2) To peel tomatoes: While bringing a large pot of water to boil, set aside a large bowl of icy water. Put tomatoes gently in boiling water. Let sit for about one minute. Remove tomatoes and place them in icy water. Peel the skin back, if necessary use a paring knife to aid the peeling.

3) Remove seeds from tomatoes. Here's the messy and fun part. Remove stems from tomatoes, cut in quarters, use your fingers to scoop out the tomato seeds and goo. Set tomatoes aside.

4) Heat olive oil over medium heat. Reserve a small amount of oil for dressing salad.

5) Add garlic to heated oil, cook on med-low (do not fry) until garlic is just softened.

6) Add tomatoes to pan, simmer for 5 mins.

7) Using a potato masher, break up tomatoes. Add chili flakes, salt and pepper. Continue simmering for 20 mins more of med-low to low heat.

8) Meanwhile cook chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper, until cooked thoroughly.

9) Remove tomatoes from heat, add butter, parmigian cheese, and basil. Add chicken and toss mixture together. Let cool slightly.

10) In a large bowl, dress lettuce with red wine vinegar and olive oil. 

11) Serve chicken/tomato mixture over lettuce.

Tips-
Want to try this some different ways? This freezes great, so try doubling the recipe and serving later over pasta, over pizza with a little mozzarella, or on fresh bread. As for ingredient variations- We also enjoy this with 1/2 c leeks added with garlic, leeks often come in our produce box this time of year. We've also used green garlic instead of cloves and added kalamata olives. We've dressed salad with balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar. So tweak as desired. The key ingredients are the tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, parmigian, and basil.