If you’re looking for a chicken dish with minimum effort, this is a good one. It looks kind of fancy and tastes more interesting than plain old chicken breasts, but it only takes about 5 extra minutes to prepare.

Start with some Boursin cheese. It comes in a little plastic tub and may be in the specialty cheese area at your grocery store. You can use the regular kind or Boursin light (which I used). Alternately, you can use herb and garlic goat cheese… but I couldn’t find it at my grocery store. I think Boursin is more readily available. Plus, you can smear the leftover Boursin on crackers or bread and eat it while the chicken is cooking.

You’ll also need chicken breasts with the skin still on. The skin is important because you’re going to stick the cheese and some basil leaves under there. It also gives it some extra flavor. And makes it prettier.

Boursin chicken (serves two)
2 chicken breasts, skin on
1 container Boursin (or garlic-herb goat cheese)
2-4 basil leaves
about 3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375.

Carefully lift the skin away from the chicken breasts, but do not remove it entirely. Smear a thick layer of cheese* on the chicken under the skin, then place 1 or 2 basil leaves on the cheese. Replace the skin.

Lightly rub olive oil all over the chicken breasts, then season with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in a baking dish and bake for 35-45 minutes**, until cooked through. Allow to cool slightly, then serve.

*You will have cheese left over, so to avoid contaminating the extra I put about half the container worth on a plate and used that to smear on the chicken.

**This was the same amount of time it took to cook the rice. Bonus!