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Monday, December 3, 2012

A Meal for Your Nose: Tuskinny Chicken

So.
I'm still loving my new Looneyspoons cookbook.  So many interesting recipes!  So many bad puns!  J is tormented and well fed at the same time.  I have yet to make a bad recipe out of this book, so I guess I'll keep trying.  The problem is, I don't make it back to make things again that we loved the first time.
This is one of those things that sounded good, but there is no way to describe how amazing it smells.  The directions include these words:
"...if you have the patience, let dish stand, uncovered, for another 5 minutes to cool slightly."
What an odd phrase.  Make it, and you will know what they're talking about.  I made it the 5 minutes, but I licked the spoon.
I present to you now from the Looneyspoons Collection Tuskinny Chicken:


Ingredients
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
12 Boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1-1/2 c coarsely chopped red onion
2 tsp minced garlic
2 medium zucchini, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1-1/2 dried basil, oregano and rosemary
1 jar your favourite pasta sauce (I used PC roasted garlic)
1/2 dry red wine
1 can no salt added chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese

Method
1.  heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken thighs.  Cook until chicken is lightly browned.  Remove from skillet and keep warm.
2.  Add onions and garlic to the same skillet.  Cook and stir until onions begin to soften.  Add zucchini and peppers.  Cook and stir until vegetables are tender-crisp.  Stir in herbs and cook for 1 more minute.
3.  Add pasta sauce, wine, chickpeas and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Return chicken to the skillet.  Cover and simmer 20 minutes.  Uncover and cook an additional 10 minutes (This will help thicken the sauce).  Remove from heat, and let stand, uncovered, for another 5 minutes to cool slightly.
4.  Serve in shallow bowls, topped with a sprinkling of cheese.
(Serves 6)
Adapted from The Looneyspoons Collection.

I once had a Pampered Chef party expressly to buy this lidded skillet for half price.  It was still $80.  I've had it for probably 10 years, and I've never regretted it.  Frankly, I've never regretted anything I've purchased from Pampered Chef.  This is not endorsement, it's just what I think.  I'm choosy on what I've bought.  But I would recommend the pan if they still carry it...and the steak knives.  Get someone else to buy the knives for you like I did (Thanks women I worked with when I got married!!!)  Here's the chicken cooking.  According to the recipe, you can use 6 chicken breasts.
Isn't this pretty?  The original used mushrooms, which I don't like, so I used a second zucchini.  Even at this point, things smelled pretty good.
Conventional wisdom states that you shouldn't cook with wine you wouldn't be willing to drink.  I would agree.  I didn't have any white (in the original), but I did have a few bottles of red.  I picked one I knew would be mighty tasty.  We had to finish this with dinner.  J commented it was a good thing we didn't need to go anywhere after dinner.  Yep, we killed a bottle of wine on a Monday night.  That's not the norm here on the mountain.
Here's the finished product.  It makes 6 generous servings.  It's filling and delicious.
But best of all, your nose gets a feast too.





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