Farmer's Market Chicken

Welcome! Welcome to my new adventure. While I do have a regular blog, Jenn's Doings, this blog, however, will be all about cooking, eating, and anything related to food.

I have wanted to start writing about food and cooking for awhile. I love to cook. I live to cook. And so it seemed so fitting that I create a venue in which I can share my wisdoms, my recipes, and my general wit about cooking. The occasional flaw in my meal preparation will also show its ugly face here.

I do not pretend to be Rachael Ray - well maybe just a little. And I do not proclaim to be the best cook in all the land - well, maybe just a little. But, I do know that I can cook, my friends have experienced it and have gained many a unwanted pounds because of it.

I will admit I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to recipes and cooking. I come by it naturally though, my mom and dad are both cookbook/recipe hounds. So it just so happened that this apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Just how "freakish" am I? I call it brilliant, but I can see how some might think it's, well, odd. But here it goes.

I have about 800 recipes. The soups to nuts gamut of recipes. Appetizers to desserts. I focus, though, on main dishes or side dishes. Not much of a baker anymore. Takes too long (this is where the Rachael Ray part of me comes into play - little patience for baking). Of these 800 recipes approximately 500 are main dishes or side dishes. All 500 of them have at one time been put in a BIG brandy snifter. Every week, I pick ONE recipe from the snifter to make. It sure is helpful when it comes to planning my week of meals. I've gone through about 45 recipes in the year 2006.

But, you'd think I'd get through with all these wouldn't you. Well no, because on average, I add about 10 a month to the snifter. See, I read cooking magazines, watch food channel, etc. I'm always being graced with a new recipe.

So stay tuned. This blog will be a blast. To start you off. THIS was my recipe of the week this week.

Farmer's Market Chicken
Courtesy of MyRecipes
Serves 4

Photo courtesy of My Recipes

• 1 T Tomato Paste
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Black pepper
• 1 can Low salt chicken broth (10 Oz)
• 1 Clove Garlic, minced
• 2 T Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 4 skinned, boneless chicken breasts, halved
• 1 T Olive oil
• 1 c Diced Carrot
• 1 c Diced yellow squash
• 1 c Diced zucchini
• 1 c Diced red onion
• 2 T Dry Vermouth
• 4 cs Hot cooked long grain rice
• 2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

Combine Tomato paste, salt, pepper, broth and garlic. Whisk well.
Place bread crumbs in a shallow dish; dredge chicken in breadcrumbs. Heat olive oil in a large non stick skillet over med-high heat; add chicken and saute 6 minutes on each side.

Remove chicken from skillet. Add carrot, squash, zucchini, red onion, dry vermouth, saute 3 minutes stirring occasionally.

Return chicken to the skillet. Add the broth mixture. Bring to a simmer, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve chicken and vegetable mixture over rice, sprinkle with rosemary.

So, what did I do different? Well, I missed the vermouth step. Seemed to taste just fine. Also used more than one clove of garlic, dah. I used 3 medium cloves. Who uses just one clove of garlic?

I also didn't have any tomato paste on hand. Instead I took tomato sauce and used 4 T instead of 3 T of paste.

For my rice, I actually did a rice pilaf type. Sauteed onion, garlic, then used basmati rice and chicken broth. The combination with the chicken was really good.