All-in-one pot dishes bring back not-so-lovely memories from my childhood of picking at stringy, dry meat slathered in a piquant sauce. Yes, meat can be dry and nearly inedible even if swimming in sauce–or at least that is how I looked at it when my three-foot-high-self was forced to deal with eating some sort of beef stew for dinner. As an adult, I can more fully appreciate the depth of flavor and the tender meat that results from a slow braise. We’ve been steering away from stewed main dishes for fear that our kids would walk off in protest, or, worse yet, that they would avoid all saucy, tasty, complicated dishes for the rest of their lives. However, we’ve snuck in a couple of stewy dishes on them and received little to no backlash. In fact, with this all-in-one pot dish, the kids always give us the thumbs up. It is a variation on the tried and true Italian chicken cacciatore dish. The chicken ends up being so juicy, tender, and tasty that it is hard not to like. (But our daughter pushed the olives off to the very edge of the plate–no negotiation on the olives.)
Onions, garlic, mushrooms, and bell peppers–veggies packed with flavor–are sautéed and then added to the bottom of the pot, along with plum tomatoes. The browned chicken breasts are placed on top, and the pot is covered and left for a long simmer in some white wine. Towards the end of cooking, cream is added along with olives.
Arranging the chicken and vegetables on a platter of pasta seemed like the right way to go. Olives are usually not my thing, but in this case, they beautifully counterbalanced the sweet flavor coming from the vegetables.
This was a hit with my family. The chicken was tender and juicy, and the vegetables were very tasty and not mushy at all. A little planning is needed to get this dish done, but it is worth it.
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
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- 2 medium onions
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 bell peppers (green, red, yellow, orange, or mixed)
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- flour for dredging chicken breasts
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8 ounces white mushrooms
- 14.5 ounce can of whole plum tomatoes, skinless
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup olives. pitted (green or black)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound cooked pasta of choice
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Finely chop onions. Crush and finely chop garlic. Remove seeds from the bell peppers and coarsely chop. Clean and coarsely chop mushrooms. Set vegetables aside.
- Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Heat skillet with the 2 tablespoons olive oil and butter. Brown both sides of the chicken on medium high heat, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from skillet and set aside.
- Reduce to medium heat and add onions to skillet. Saute about three minutes, stirring frequently. Push onions to the sides of the skillet. Add one tablespoon olive oil to the middle of the pan and add garlic. When fragrant, mix garlic and onions together.
- Push onions and garlic to the sides of the skillet and add bell peppers and mushrooms. Cook 2-3 minutes, then add tomatoes in their juices. Mix all the vegetables together.
- Transfer vegetables to a 4.5-6 quart oven proof Dutch oven or casserole (with lid), Arrange chicken on top of the vegetables. Pour wine into the skillet, scraping up any bits left from the chicken and vegetables. Bring to a boil, then pour the wine over the chicken.
- Place lid on the pot and place pot in preheated oven. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle olives over the chicken. Pour cream over top. Place lid back onto the pot and return pot to the oven to continue baking for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Transfer chicken to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
- Season the vegetables and sauce remaining in the pot with salt and pepper to taste. Place pot with vegetables and sauce on the stove top and simmer uncovered for 2-3 minutes to slightly thicken sauce. Omit this step if consistency of sauce is as desired.
- Arrange chicken and vegetables over pasta on a serving dish and pour half of the sauce over the chicken. Pour remaining sauce in a gravy boast to pass around the table.
