Chicken Poached in Tomato Sauce
Mar. 27th, 2006 02:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallowwater posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
kitchen_fummmmmmmbabiesChicken!
This is the thing you make when you want to impress the people you are feeding with what a good cook you are, even if you aren't that good of a cook.
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Ingredient Level: Half a step above basic.
Meal Level: Dinner.
Time: 30 mins if you've done it before, 1 hour max, unless you're cooking for an entire horde.
Cheapness: Chicken and canned tomatoes don't cost that much.
Servings: Completely scale-able. The measurements I've given are for 2 or 1-with-leftovers.
Ingredients
- Chicken (I like to use breasts. Prepare as many pieces as you want to eat.)
- 2 12or15oz. cans Diced Tomatoes. (I get the canned Diced Tomatoes in tomato juice or similar. DO NOT GET the diced tomatoes that are pre-seasoned with basil or oregano or something. They taste like ASS. I get the Diced tomatoes because I like to have large chunks of tomato. You could probably use the crushed tomatoes, or whatever they're called, if you like smaller tomato bits. Or you could dice your own tomatoes.)
- 1 Leak or several green onions. (If you get the leak, make sure to RINSE IT VERY WELL. They are grown in sand and you really don't want sand in your dinner.)
- several cloves of garlic
Optional Componants that Make it Taste Even More Delicious That You Should Use At Least 2 Of
- some parmesan cheese (always a good choice)
- some blue cheese, if you have it. Adds a lot to the flavor, but not necessary.
- several tablespoons pesto or chopped basil, if you have it.
- ~1/4 - 1/2C red wine, if you want, and depending on how boozy you want it to taste. I'd recommend starting out light and adding more later if you aren't satisfied with the taste.
- 1/4 - 1/2 of a small can of tomato paste, depending on how thick you want your sauce. Or you can skip it altogether.
- Pasta of your choice. I like egg noodles. Regular Spaghetti is delicious as well. Pretty much whatever you want will be fine.
Pans: My dad uses a wok. I use a large frying pan with tall-ish sides. You want a fair amount of surface area to do the poaching in, so pick something that's a bit wider, but still deep enough to hold the sauce. You can do it in a regular sauce pan, you'll just have to cook fewer pieces of meat at a time.
Step 1: Thaw chicken if frozen. Slice in half (thickness, not longways) and tenderize to achieve uniform thickness if necessary. (tenderize is when you pound it with the hammer-like thingie that has lots of little poke-y bits on it. If you need to do this, be gentle, as chicken is not all that difficult to flatten out. I got mine for not-very-much-money from Kroger a couple years ago, if you want/need to do this. And make sure you are using a good cutting board to pound on. It will do bad sad things to any countertop/unprotected surface.) You want each piece of chicken to be pretty thin (1/4 to 1/2 an inch thick) and a mostly even thickness across so it cooks quickly and evenly.
Step 2: Start a pot of water heating for the pasta. THIS IS A DIFFERENT POT FROM THE ONE YOU ARE MAKING THE CHICKEN AND SAUCE IN. Throw in the pasta when it starts boiling/when you remember/when you have time.
Step 3: If using the leak, CLEAN WELL and slice longways. If using green onions, rinse. Dice vegetable of choice and saute in your pan of choice with a little oil.
Step 4: Mince or crush ~2 garlic cloves (more or less depending on your fondness for garlic and the number of servings you are preparing). Saute just a tiny bit.
Step 5: Add tomatoes, juice and all (the juice is important). You want enough tomatoes and whatnot to at least cover the bottom of the pan. More, if you're feeding more people.
Step 6: Add ~2 tablespoons of pesto or basil or similar.
Step 7: Add ~1/4C red wine. Mix in with wooden spoon or similar. (If you are using a non-stick pan, use something that won't scratch the finish!)
Step 8: Add ~1/2 tsp crumbled blue cheese and/or 2-3 tbs parmesan (depending on your fondness of either). Don't be afraid to give the blue cheese a try. You aren't adding enough to make it taste like cheese, you're adding enough to enhance the other flavors involved. You can store blue cheese in the freezer for forever, if you're worried about buying some and not using it before it goes all fuzzy.
Step 9: Bring the sauce to a low boil.
Step 10: To poach the chicken, lay the pieces flat along the surface of the boiling sauce. Poach for 2-3 minutes on each side. If the chicken is a bit on the thicker side, it might take a bit longer, but it should go pretty quickly. When each piece is finished, take it out and put any remaining chicken in to cook.
Step 11: When all the chicken is done cooking, you can add a little bit of tomato paste to thicken the sauce to your desired consistency. I like my sauce to be more water-y, but you might like it otherwise. Put all the cooked chicken back in the sauce for warming (if the cooking took a while)/serving.
Step 12: Serve over your favorite pasta. And don't forget to grate some more Parmesan over it! Yum!
And there you go! A delicious meal to impress and delight anyone you invite over for dinner! Unless they don't eat meat, whin which case, maybe not so much.
Originally posted here.
This is the thing you make when you want to impress the people you are feeding with what a good cook you are, even if you aren't that good of a cook.
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Ingredient Level: Half a step above basic.
Meal Level: Dinner.
Time: 30 mins if you've done it before, 1 hour max, unless you're cooking for an entire horde.
Cheapness: Chicken and canned tomatoes don't cost that much.
Servings: Completely scale-able. The measurements I've given are for 2 or 1-with-leftovers.
Ingredients
- Chicken (I like to use breasts. Prepare as many pieces as you want to eat.)
- 2 12or15oz. cans Diced Tomatoes. (I get the canned Diced Tomatoes in tomato juice or similar. DO NOT GET the diced tomatoes that are pre-seasoned with basil or oregano or something. They taste like ASS. I get the Diced tomatoes because I like to have large chunks of tomato. You could probably use the crushed tomatoes, or whatever they're called, if you like smaller tomato bits. Or you could dice your own tomatoes.)
- 1 Leak or several green onions. (If you get the leak, make sure to RINSE IT VERY WELL. They are grown in sand and you really don't want sand in your dinner.)
- several cloves of garlic
Optional Componants that Make it Taste Even More Delicious That You Should Use At Least 2 Of
- some parmesan cheese (always a good choice)
- some blue cheese, if you have it. Adds a lot to the flavor, but not necessary.
- several tablespoons pesto or chopped basil, if you have it.
- ~1/4 - 1/2C red wine, if you want, and depending on how boozy you want it to taste. I'd recommend starting out light and adding more later if you aren't satisfied with the taste.
- 1/4 - 1/2 of a small can of tomato paste, depending on how thick you want your sauce. Or you can skip it altogether.
- Pasta of your choice. I like egg noodles. Regular Spaghetti is delicious as well. Pretty much whatever you want will be fine.
Pans: My dad uses a wok. I use a large frying pan with tall-ish sides. You want a fair amount of surface area to do the poaching in, so pick something that's a bit wider, but still deep enough to hold the sauce. You can do it in a regular sauce pan, you'll just have to cook fewer pieces of meat at a time.
Step 1: Thaw chicken if frozen. Slice in half (thickness, not longways) and tenderize to achieve uniform thickness if necessary. (tenderize is when you pound it with the hammer-like thingie that has lots of little poke-y bits on it. If you need to do this, be gentle, as chicken is not all that difficult to flatten out. I got mine for not-very-much-money from Kroger a couple years ago, if you want/need to do this. And make sure you are using a good cutting board to pound on. It will do bad sad things to any countertop/unprotected surface.) You want each piece of chicken to be pretty thin (1/4 to 1/2 an inch thick) and a mostly even thickness across so it cooks quickly and evenly.
Step 2: Start a pot of water heating for the pasta. THIS IS A DIFFERENT POT FROM THE ONE YOU ARE MAKING THE CHICKEN AND SAUCE IN. Throw in the pasta when it starts boiling/when you remember/when you have time.
Step 3: If using the leak, CLEAN WELL and slice longways. If using green onions, rinse. Dice vegetable of choice and saute in your pan of choice with a little oil.
Step 4: Mince or crush ~2 garlic cloves (more or less depending on your fondness for garlic and the number of servings you are preparing). Saute just a tiny bit.
Step 5: Add tomatoes, juice and all (the juice is important). You want enough tomatoes and whatnot to at least cover the bottom of the pan. More, if you're feeding more people.
Step 6: Add ~2 tablespoons of pesto or basil or similar.
Step 7: Add ~1/4C red wine. Mix in with wooden spoon or similar. (If you are using a non-stick pan, use something that won't scratch the finish!)
Step 8: Add ~1/2 tsp crumbled blue cheese and/or 2-3 tbs parmesan (depending on your fondness of either). Don't be afraid to give the blue cheese a try. You aren't adding enough to make it taste like cheese, you're adding enough to enhance the other flavors involved. You can store blue cheese in the freezer for forever, if you're worried about buying some and not using it before it goes all fuzzy.
Step 9: Bring the sauce to a low boil.
Step 10: To poach the chicken, lay the pieces flat along the surface of the boiling sauce. Poach for 2-3 minutes on each side. If the chicken is a bit on the thicker side, it might take a bit longer, but it should go pretty quickly. When each piece is finished, take it out and put any remaining chicken in to cook.
Step 11: When all the chicken is done cooking, you can add a little bit of tomato paste to thicken the sauce to your desired consistency. I like my sauce to be more water-y, but you might like it otherwise. Put all the cooked chicken back in the sauce for warming (if the cooking took a while)/serving.
Step 12: Serve over your favorite pasta. And don't forget to grate some more Parmesan over it! Yum!
And there you go! A delicious meal to impress and delight anyone you invite over for dinner! Unless they don't eat meat, whin which case, maybe not so much.
Originally posted here.
