It seems we are having an Indian summer here in Calgary. After the big snow storm that happened at the beginning of September, all the warmth is simply amazing and I love it. Trees are losing their leaves and everything is bronze and dark brown, perfect time to go out and take some great pictures for my blog. Unfortunately, my plans don’t usually become true and same thing happened now, I got stupid sick and now I spend my time in front of my computer sipping gross medicinal teas. Sucks!
Wife’s cooking some awesome ribs upstairs, I am down in my basement slowly dying because of amazing aroma, listening to the freakin’ dog jumping up and down to check whatever is on the table but not everything is a total loss. I found in my picture collection, some old recipes that I forgot or didn’t care to post when I made them, for a reason that eludes me now. Some of them are pretty cool so I decided to post some and I will start by sharing my rustic Tuscan chicken recipe. I don’t know if there is any relation between Toscana region in Italy and this recipe but there are lots of blogs out there that made it so I wanted to see for myself how it is and, after few modifications (I don’t really like asparagus), this is my idea of Tuscan Chicken.
If you wondered about the chicken, yes, I grilled it a little bit before throwing it into the oven. Just get a bit of char marks on it and the smoky aroma from the grill will make all the difference when you serve it. Enjoy!
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 6 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
- 1 onion, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup pitted mixed olives
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil, divided
- 1 tbsp oregano, dry
- salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 375° F / 190° C
- Heat olive oil in a large oven-proof skillet over medium high heat.
- Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper a grill them for few minutes to get those nice char marks. You could even brown them a bit in the same skillet before adding the rest of the ingredients. Set chicken aside when done.
- Add onion and garlic and saute for three to four minutes. De-glaze pan with wine then add tomatoes, olives, ½ tsp salt, pepper to taste, and one tablespoon of chopped basil and oregano. Saute for two to three minutes.
- Nestle chicken in tomato mixture and add more wine to cover the chicken as much as possible (if needed). You could use water and/or chicken/vegetable stock if you don't like cooking with wine but the end result would not be the same. Transfer skillet to oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- Garnish with the remainder of basil and/or parsley and serve.
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