Anyways, I'd say this dish is one of the best chicken dishes I've made so far. It was very flavorful, and only required minimal cooking skills as indicated by Matt's ability to help both as a sous chef and photographer. I made a couple slight modification to this recipe to make it a little healthier and in the end it didn't sacrifice any bit of taste. One of the major things I changed was I substituted fat-free plain Greek yogurt for cream in the dish. This cut out a lot of fat making it a bit more heart healthy. I also did not serve it over pasta because wonder of wonders I didn't have any in the house, but it would be delicious over some whole grain linguini. I would highly recommend this recipe to anyone!
Here is the original link in case you want to make it "as is."
http://www.gabbiskitchen.com/chicken-with-sun-dried-tomato-basil-sauce.html
Chicken with Sun Dried Tomato and Basil sauce
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thawed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I used garlic oil for extra flavor)
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup onions, chopped finely
2 minced garlic cloves (or 2 cubes from TJ's)
1/2 shallot, minced
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped ( NOT oil packed)
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt
Chop up the onion, shallot and garlic (or in the case of the garlic, plop out the cubes if you're me) and set aside
Do the same for the basil (NOTE: This lovely chop job was completed by Matt my husband/sous chef)
Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken & grind fresh pepper on each side.
Cook until done, about 5 minutes on each side. (When done, chicken will have NO pink on the inside.) Remove the chicken and set aside, keeping covered, or stash in your microwave to keep warm.
In the same pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, & shallots, cooking 1-2 minutes, just until soft.
Add sun dried tomatoes and stir.
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| I'm stirring with one hand and prepping the chicken broth with the other. Talk about multitasking! Trader Joe's has these wonderful broth packets which allows you to keep 10 c. of broth in a space smaller than 1 can of chicken broth! Just add water to reconstitution and you're ready to go! |
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| I forgot to take a picture of this step so instead you get Matt modeling the Greek Yogurt and giving his best impression of a professional sous chef |
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| This is after all the chicken broth was added. |
Continue whisking until sauce begins to thicken. Take off heat and let sit; it will continue to thicken.
Add fresh basil to sun dried tomato sauce and give it a good stir.
Serve over the chicken and if you like, a bed of whole grain pasta. YUM YUM and very few steps!
I have no doubt that if you try this you will definitely have some very happy eating!
Hey Jen!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to try this! It sounds delicious! I have a general cooking question that is also relevant to this post... I have just begun cooking in the last two years, but I have come across some recipes calling for shallots. Since I rarely have this ingredient around (and probably couldn't name a shallot if I saw one), I usually skip its addition. I was wondering if, in your opinion, this is detrimental to the overall taste of recipes in general? I guess what I am trying to ask is this: Do shallots contribute a lot to flavor in dishes, or if the dish already contains garlic and onion, would it be missed/detrimental to the flavor of the dish? I am just curious and have been for a while!
Hi Anna!
ReplyDeleteShallots look like little onions and are related to the onion family. They have a brown skin like what you'd see on a yellow onion, but the flesh on the inside is most like a red onion. Recipes call for them when they want a milder onion flavor. You could always substitute some chopped red onion and a pinch of garlic to replicate the flavor, or you could leave it out all together if onions are already called for. For this recipe, I'd say they are not necessary at all. You can just use plain ol' onions but increase the number to 3/4 c.
Hope this helps!
Jen, I can't wait to try this, but I'm letting Mr. Bill enjoy some beef first, as we now have 1 1/2 beef in the freezer. You need to come get some! I have about 20 pkgs. of T-bone steaks, two per package, lots of roasts (the rib roast was amazing) and assorted other cuts. You're right about shallots. They are just small, expensive, fancy mild onions. They're great if you grow themn, but to me, the extra cost is prohibitive. Mild red or mellow yellow onions work fine.
ReplyDeleteEnjoying the blog!! Momma Sue