Chicken with Tomatoes

I needed something for dinner tonight. Weird, I know. You'd think with all the food I had made over the past week I'd have something I could work with.

Sure, I could work with some leftovers. But I needed something I hadn't seen before. I wanted something that was savory, that would taste familiar, that had things in it that I knew and I trusted.

I know I had done that with other dishes and failed miserably. I was putting a lot of weight on making this dinner work.





Chicken with Tomatoes was something I had seen in the Whole Foods website, in their recipes section. The picture looked so good and the recipe seemed really easy and really good tasting that I had to try it.



This time, I was not disappointed by a new dish. This was fantastic. This was filling. It was savory, it was tangy, it definitely came through as a go-to dish. I really could have licked the bowl clean (I actually could have, given that I'm the only one here. But I restrained myself). I loved this. It will go into my regular rotation, I'm pretty sure. I think it should go into yours too.




Chicken with Tomatoes (recipe from Whole Foods Market)

2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup flour (I used spelt flour-trying to get rid of it! and didn't actually notice any difference! I hate to say it but I'm starting to get used to spelt!)
sprinkling of salt, to taste
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces (get the raw chicken tenders-you'll save time chopping them)
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
3 to 4 cloves garlic, crushed (I used a spoonful of minced garlic)
1 (15-oz) can crushed tomatoes, drained
1 c. low-sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp butter (or a bit of spray)
1 large portobello mushroom (about 1/2 pound), diced
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c. basil leaves, torn
3 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Method

Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Mix together flour, salt and red pepper flakes in a medium bowl then coat chicken with flour mixture. Make sure to shake off any extra flour. Transfer chicken to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned (don't do something like I did and crowd the pan-it will take much longer to cook!); transfer to a large plate and return pot to the stove. Reduce heat to medium, add onion and garlic and cook until soft and opaque. Add tomatoes, broth and browned chicken back to the pot and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.

While chicken mixture is cooking, melt butter (or spray butter spray) in a large pan over medium high heat, add mushrooms and cook until tender, about 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle with lemon juice and set aside.

Add cooked mushrooms, basil and parsley to pot with chicken mixture a few minutes before the mixture is done cooking and continue simmering just until heated through. Serve.