Chicken Provencal

I have had requests for Mediterranean food.  You asked for it, you got it. Cindy this one's for you! This meal was taken from THE LITTLE BIG BOOK MEDITERRANEAN  by McRae Books.

Chicken Provencal

1 3lb chicken, cut up
4 TBL extra virgin olive oil
S & P to taste
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 firm, ripe tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cups dry white wine
1 TBL finely chopped rosemary
1 TBL finely chopped thyme
1 cup black olives

Season chicken w/ S & P to taste.
Saute chicken in the EVOO in large fry pan on medium high heat until lightly browned.
Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
In the same pan saute the onions, garlic and tomatoes until tomatoes begin to break down, about 8-10 minutes.
Lower the heat and add the wine, rosemary, thyme, S & P to taste and olives.
Cook for about 10 minutes.
Return chicken to the pan and continue cooking at a low simmer, covered, for 20 - 30 minutes or until chicken is very tender.


COOKS HINT:
If you didn't already know, to peel tomatoes, blanch them for a few minutes in boiling water, then place in cold water. Skins slip right off. I then cooked the pasta in the water I used to blanch the tomatoes.


Now for the "playing with food" part:

• I didn't feel like using another pan for the veggies so I added cut fresh green beans when I began the final simmer. 
• I used my seasoning salt on the chicken when browning.
• I used 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1 TBL coarse black pepper in the sauce, which I might cut back a bit next time.
• I forgot to take a chicken out of the freezer in time so I used boneless skinless chicken breasts and thighs. By not having the skin on it also keeps the calorie count down. 
• I also did not have the dry white wine, so I used 1 1/2 cups cooking sherry and 1/2 cup red cooking wine. 

I served this over DeBoles Organic Garlic & Parsley Angel Hair Pasta (one of my absolute favorites)

This was a very easy, light, fresh and very yummy recipe, Great one-pot-dinner meal (other than the pan for cooking the pasta), Ok 2 pan recipe.. lol I thought this recipe was easy enough to do for a week day family meal, yet presents well and flavorful enough for company. You could easily use canned tomatoes (32oz) for the fresh and broccoli or zucchini for the green beans. Serve this with garlic bread and you've got a fantastic meal fit for company.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.