Rev: Chicken with Artichokes and Olives, CL J/F 03

[Ohioan]

I could have sworn there was a review of this earlier, but I can't seem to find it, so here goes a new thread.

Tonight I made the Chicken with Artichokes and Olives from Jan/Feb 03, and it was a winner all the way around. The only change I made was to use a bone-in chicken breast instead of boneless so I could use water instead of the chicken stock, since bone-in chicken kind of makes its own "stock" out of any liquid in the pan.

This was incredibly easy to make, and the sauce was surprisingly flavorful for so few ingredients. The proportions were just right, too. I had a nice glaze, neither soupy nor dry, with enough moisture to coat not only the chicken and vegetables but also the ziti that I made alongside.

I'd post the recipe for those without the Jan/Feb issue, but I tinkered with it a bit too much when I entered it into Mastercook, so I'll have to ask someone else to post the "genuine article." :o

Cheers,
Phoebe

[Varaile]

Thanks for the review! I have these on the menu for this week. This was a recipe I flagged right away so I am glad it turned out good!

:D

[Paula H]

Oh yes please, a request for someone, anyone, to post the recipe!

[Terrytx]

* Exported from MasterCook *

Chicken with Olives and Lemon

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Poultry

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 chicken thighs (about 2 pounds), skinned
cooking spray
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
24 pimiento-stuffed olives, coarsely chopped
8 lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine first 8 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well. Add chicken; toss to coat. Arrange chicken in a single layer in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cup; level with a knife.

Combine flour, juice, and broth, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Sprinkle flour mixture over chicken, tossing to coat. Top chicken with olives and lemon. Bake at 325 for 1 hour or until thermometer registers 180 degrees.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 thighs and about 1/3 cup sauce).297 cal, 10g fat, 30.8g pro, 18.9g carb, 2.1g fiber, 115mg chol, 3.2mg iron, 941mg sod, 43mg calc.

Source:
"Cooking Light-J/F/03"


Serving Ideas : Serve over couscous.

[Ohioan]

Nope, that's the wrong chicken with olives. The one I made was in the "Superfast" section, and was called Chicken with Artichokes and Olives. As I recall, the only seasonings were salt, pepper, dry white wine, chicken broth, and Dijon mustard, plus a bit of cornstarch to thicken the sauce.

Anyone else? :rolleyes:

Cheers,
Phoebe

[CompassRose]

Oh, please, yes, someone post it... I was, strangely, going to try adapting and lightening a chicken, olive & artichoke recipe from one of my own cookbooks for tonight, and serving over polenta.

Of course, there's always a chance that my very own copy of CL will be in my mailbox when I get home... (oh, ha very ha ha!)

[Beth]

Here you go:

Chicken with Artichokes and Olives

1 T olive oil
4 (6-oz) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp papper
1/2 c dry white wine
1/4 cup fat free reduced sodium chicken broth
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/3 cup Kalamatta olives, pitted
1 (14 oz) can quarteed artichoke hearts, drained
2 tsp fresh parsley

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 5 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from pan and keep warm.

Combine wine, broth, cornstarch and mustard. Add to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute. Stir in olives and artichockes; cook 1 minute. Spoon sauce over chicken and sprinkle with parsley. 4 servings (each 323 cal, 10.1 g fat (28%), 42.4 g protien, 10.1 gr carb, 3.8 gr fiber, 99 mg chol., 2.1 gr iron, 788 mg sodium, 50 mg calc)

Suugested serving over buttered bow-tie pasta.

[Ohioan]

Ah, bless you, Beth! I was just about to go get my copy of CL and type it in myself when I saw your heroic efforts.

Cheers,
Phoebe

[CompassRose]

...and there was much joy in the frosty north... Thank you! ('course, means I must walk an extra ten minutes in the arctic gale to buy olives :rolleyes: )

[Beth]

Originally posted by CompassRose
...and there was much joy in the frosty north... Thank you! ('course, means I must walk an extra ten minutes in the arctic gale to buy olives :rolleyes: )

Good exercise! LOL Enjoy!

[RobinC]

Ohioan, the beloved Bean Queen, is cooking chicken. And I, a chicken-eating-lentil-virgin (had lentils for the first time in my life last month), have decided to cook up some lentils this week. Been searching the CL boards for some lentil recipe that looks easy and tastt. :D

[CompassRose]

Well, I did buy olives, and I made... errr, something very like this recipe.

And it was good.

If anyone is interested, my changes were:

Used homemade seitan "chicken" instead of real dead chicken
Used 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar and 1/2 cup water instead of the wine and broth (because we never have wine in the house, except on very rare occasions)
Olive oil spray (Spectrum organic!) instead of the olive oil
and -- sacrilege -- no Alliums? Added a sliced onion and 2 minced cloves of garlic

Served it over squares of polenta browned nice and crispy. Yum. And there are leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Double yum! Thanks again.

(And no sign of CL in the box today, either.)

[Varaile]

Okay! I made this tonight as written and it was darn tasty! I served it with peas and a side salad. DH would have given it an A- but he thought the artichokes were bitter so he dropped his ranking to a B. I gave it a B+.

This was very easy to prepare both prep and cooking wise. I think this recipe may make it into my rotation. YUM!

My only question is this: should I be rinsing the artichokes after I drain them? I am trying to figure out why DH thinks they were bitter (I didn't think so :rolleyes: ).

[TeriK]

Ooh, thanks for the review. I saw this recipe and immediately wanted to try it. I haven't made plans to cook any of the new CL choices since I'd already picked out and shopped for other dishes for the week. Drats! I hope to try this recipe in the next few weeks. It sounds great. Glad to hear it's easy too.

[Ohioan]

Originally posted by Varaile
My only question is this: should I be rinsing the artichokes after I drain them? I am trying to figure out why DH thinks they were bitter (I didn't think so :rolleyes: ).
Brands of canned artichoke hearts vary a lot; I usually nibble a leaf of one of the artichoke hearts to see whether they need rinsing. The Roland brand that I used were just right without rinsing. There are also frozen artichoke hearts that avoid the "briny" or "metallic" taste of canned ones altogether.

Or then again, some people's taste buds are more sensitive to bitterness than others. I imagine this recipe would be just as good with asparagus or some other robust-tasting, firm-textured green vegetable as with artichokes. Maybe even green and/or red peppers?

Cheers,
Phoebe

[Peggy]

When I first looked at this recipe I thought, "Easy but probably boring". Well, I was absolutely wrong! This recipe was great!! It was extremely easy to make, had very few ingredients, but it was very flavorful. An added plus was it had a very nice presentation! I must say, the Superfast Section in the Jan/Feb has had some terrific recipes in it.

Peggy

[LaurenP]

Terrytx
The chx with lemon and olives looks good too! Have you tried it?

[Reggie]

Originally posted by Lauren Pierce
Terrytx
The chx with lemon and olives looks good too! Have you tried it?

I tried it, and hated it. and it has so many ingredients that I LOVE, but it just didn't work for me. Too bad really, because it's a very easy recipe to prepare. I think I just don't really like olives with pimentos in my cooking.


Now, back to the chicken with artichoke hearts and olives....I'm snowed in here in NJ, with no hope of getting near a grocery store. We were away all weekend and made it home just as the weather was getting really bad so I don't have a lot of food around. I'm looking for something to cook tonight, and I have chicken and a bottle of artichoke hearts, but I don't have kalamata olives. I do have a can of black olives....what do you guys think, will that be OK or too whimpy flavor-wise? Would this be good over couscous?

--Reg

[valchemist]

I think the canned black olives would be too wimpy. but that is just my opinion.

[Terrytx]

Originally posted by Lauren Pierce
Terrytx
The chx with lemon and olives looks good too! Have you tried it?

Yes, and we liked it alot.

[Reggie]

Originally posted by valchemist
I think the canned black olives would be too wimpy. but that is just my opinion.

No, that's my gut feeling too...but there's no way I'm getting to a store today! Guess I'll have to come up with something else.

--Reg

[CompassRose]

Capers might work, if you have capers? With maybe some canned olives for colour.

[Ohioan]

The wimpy olives might work if you add more salt to the sauce. I think capers might be too vinegary with the mustard.

How about anchovies instead of olives?

By the way, I'm glad this thread resurfaced, since it inspired me to make the dish again, and I loved it once more!

Cheers,
Phoebe

[Peggy]

Originally posted by Lauren Pierce

The chx with lemon and olives looks good too! Have you tried it?

We also tried this recipe and were very happy with the results.

Peggy

[shscharles]

I just tried this last night...I'm still on my "use what's in the pantry and refrigerator" kick and had half a large jar of marinated artichoke hearts in the "needs to be used" category.

Worked fine...this recipe is easy, goes together quickly and is a "week night-cooking after work-pantry friendly" meal. Served it with steamed asparagus and DH got rice to spoon the sauce over (I'm being virtuous). A keeper.

[valchemist]

bumping this old thread up to post my review. this recipe is easy and delicious. great recipe for a quick weeknight meal!!