Basque-Inspired Chicken Provencal

It has been a BUSY summer!  I've done a lot of weekend travel, my day job has kept me on my toes, and my social calendar feels packed.  All good things, but it doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging.

I've also been struggling to make use of my CSA bounty.  Its a LOT of vegetables for one person to cook and eat in a week, and I vowed to put last week's to good use.  I was inspired by the classic French dish, Chicken Provencal.  (I followed Food & Wine's recipe as a blueprint.)   I think mine has more of a Basque feel to it.

Basque-Inspired Chicken Provencal

Ingredients:


1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
1 package of boneless, skinless, organic chicken breasts (Mine came out to about 1.25 lbs.)
sea salt and pepper

red onion, chopped

1 bulb of fennel, cored and thinly sliced

4 leaves of rainbow chard, stems chopped and leaves roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 white wine (I used mirin instead because that's what I had on hand)
1 14 oz. can of fire-roasted diced organic tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried rosemary (or use 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary)
1/3 c pitted kalamata olives

1 anchovy filet, chopped

Procedure:

In a large, deep frying pan, heat the oil over moderately high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and put it in the pan. Brown the chicken on both sides, about 8 minutes total.  Remove the chicken from the pan into a shallow dish. 

Reduce the heat to medium-low.  Add the onion, fennel, chard stems, and the garlic with a small pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the wine to the pan and simmer until reduced to about 1/4 cup, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, olives, anchovy filet, and simmer for 2-3 minutes.  Put the chicken back to the pan and nestle into the tomato mixture.  Pour any accumulated juices in the pan.  Reduce the heat to low and add the breasts and chard leaves.  Cook until the chicken is just done, about 10 minutes more. 

I served mine with steamed green beans and smoked-paprika roasted Japanese eggplant (also both from my CSA.)

I was feeling sort of productive, so I also made some of Chocolate Covered Katie's Fudge Babies (with almonds instead of walnuts).  YUM.  (She's got a great blog and her recipes are uncomplicated and fun.  Check it out!)

(P.S. I haven't forgotten about my brownie odyssey!)