This week I bought four chicken breasts to last Mr T and myself for dinners for the week. Here is what I have made with them so far.
Chicken and Chips, crumbed with my new grain free sourdough bread crumb (I have not introduced you to that yet, but I will, it is divoone!)
A beautiful poached chicken strips in a creamy bacon and mushroom sauce with steamed veg, dairy free of course. This one was pretty exceptional, I am working on a couple of cookbooks, this one will be in there.
Chicken Cacciatore with quinoa. This was really lovely, very high in vegetables, really, just health in a bowl, so I thought I might pop the recipe up here if anyone would like to try it.
Ingredients
Made two big dinners or two smaller dinners like those pictured with some left over.
1 chicken breast, cut into strips
1/2 brown onion, diced
1/2 red capsicum, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon chopped Mediterranean herbs, I used rosemary, oregano and basil
8 green olives cut in half
400g tin crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup water
100g sliced mushroom
3 asparagus spears, cut into four bits each
chopped Italian parsley to top
Okay, before we begin let me explain, this meal is a bit of a clean up the kitchen meal, the asparagus and mushrooms were leftovers, so they went in so they were not wasted, you can leave them out if you want to. One thing I would have liked to add but could not find (probably buried in the back of the fridge) was a couple of anchovies, don’t scrunch up your face like that, anchovies add a lovely picante flavour to a dish like this, anyway, it was lovely without them so that is how I am chronicling it.
In a medium pot heat the olive oil, add the onion and capsicum, sauté until the onion is translucent and the capsicum is fragrant, add the garlic and herbs, cook for one more minute, add the tin of tomatoes and the water. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to a simmer, add the chicken strips and olives.
***Just a little word here, I want the chicken to be meltingly tender in this dish, all it is really adding here is protein, we could easily have substituted it for zucchini or eggplant. The reason it has not been browned before it goes in is because, as breast meat, it is a little dryer, but a nice lean cut, if I brown it, the texture will be tough, this dish is not cooked for long enough to make it tender again. Adding the chicken unbrowned will maintain its tenderness.
Simmer for twenty minutes, stirring often to move everything around, stir in the mushrooms and asparagus, cook for five more minutes.
Serve with the traditional pasta to accompany, or cooked quinoa as I have done here in the photo. Sprinkle with some chopped parsley for extra goodness, season if you want to, Mr T added some salt, I didn’t, I felt that it did not need it
I have one chicken breast left to go. I am thinking, hmmm. Maybe a stir fry?