Chicken Romana

*pictured is thighs only

The other day I was eating lunch and watching Giada de Laurentis on Everyday Italian.  Since moving, I’ve been feeling more and more like trying to make new dishes, harder and perhaps more complicated than my previous motto of “I’m a busy girl… I don’t have all the time in the world.”  Probably because my commute has gone from just under an hour to about 10 minutes, I feel more comfortable with spending a little extra time to cook something a little more fantastic than my normal repertoire.  I’m also not that hungry at 6 pm, which is when I could finish cooking if I wanted. 

Any-which-way, I wound up seeing Giada make something that I thought I could easily take, rebadge, and proffer as my own.  So I did.  Her version can be found here; mine is basically the same with a bunch of major changes for a different end product.  The following is what I used and how I did it, but feel free to make your own substitutions, anything you’re comfortable with:

• 3 skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 2 skinless boneless chicken thighs
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil
• 2 sliced red bell peppers
• 4 slices of uncooked bacon, chopped
• minced garlic
• 1 can petite cut tomatoes
• small palmful of Italian seasoning
• chicken stock (DO use low sodium for this recipe, or it’ll be way salty)
• a couple of fresh basil leaves, rolled up and sliced into ribbons
• a couple peeled potatoes, cut into same-size pieces (I used Russets, you might want to use boiling potatoes/new potatoes)

Season the chicken on both sides with salt & pepper.  Heat olive oil in a heavy, large skillet over medium flame until hot, then add chicken to brown on both sides.  Remove chicken and set aside. 

In the same pan, add bacon and cook until crisp.  If necessary, drain some of the oil, then add garlic and cook for a few minutes.  Add tomatoes & Italian seasoning, then deglaze the pan with a wooden spoon.  Bring sauce to a simmer, and add potatoes along the bottom of the pan.  Return chicken to pan as well.  Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. 

Serve a few potatoes with a piece of chicken or two, add basil on top and enjoy!!! 

This served myself (I ate the two dark meat pieces), my boyfriend (who had a chicken breast) and his friend (who also had a chicken breast), with enough leftover for lunch the next day for my boyfriend, though I think normally he’d have eaten two breasts except he wasn’t that hungry.  So I’ll go with… serves two (even though Giada’s version, which only has one more chicken breast, says 6 servings). 

(I found myself thinking how I could change this for next time: perhaps add onions, or carrots, make it more stew-like, or leave out the potatoes and serve with bread, however it might go, whatever strikes my fancy.)