Years ago, (70/80’s) our industry used to thrive on Sun-Dried Tomatoes. When chefs get a whiff of something new, we would go to town on it. A friend of mine had been staying for a few months and when he left Spain to return home, he asked if I would take some of his larder stock rather than leave it. So of course, I took it, and a lot of what was there was very useful and added to my already prolific pantry. Showing what a good lad of the 80’s he was, there were a few jars of said Sun Dried Tomatoes. My memories of such a delicacy were in the “Pasta-Pizza” area. So I decided to do something with Chicken. So here’s my quick, easy and tasty Chicken in Cream Sauce with Sundried Tomatoes.

Servings 4

 

Cook:

15 mins

Prep. time:

10 minutes

Difficulty:

Fairly Simples..

Ingredients

  • 8 pieces of Chicken thighs or two chicken breast, skinless and boneless
  • 200 gms Basil, leaves
  • 2 Garlic cloves
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 100 gms Sun dried tomatoes
  • 250ml Chicken broth/stock, Home made good, but quality stock cubes OK
  • Glass of white wine
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • Season with ground black pepper and sea salt to taste
  • 150/175ml of cooking cream
  • Parmesan 100gm or  to choice
  •  

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1
    1. Cut chicken breasts in half horiztonally to form four fillets. I prefer to use eight pieces of chicken thighs as they remain more moist.
    2. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil from sun dried tomato jar in a large skillet over high heat.
    3. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown on both sides – 5 minutes total for thigh or 3/4 minutes for breast fillets. Remove onto a plate, keep warm.
Step 3
  • Bring to simmer, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes until thickened. Stir regularly to dissolve parmesan cheese.
  • Taste sauce and add more salt and pepper if needed.
  • Stir through basil leaves, then return chicken into pan. Spoon sauce over and simmer for one minute or so.

 

Step 2
  • Add the garlic and chopped onion and cook for 15 seconds until light golden.
  • Add a splash of brandy, ignite and burn off the alcohol and add a glass of white wine. Bring to simmer and scrape the bottom of the skillet to mix all the brown bits into the wine.
  • Let the wine simmer for one minute or so.
  • Mix in mustard, then add the chicken broth, cream, parmesan and sun dried tomatoes.
Step 4

Sprinkle with chopped basil and serve with creamed potato (or pasta but I was trying to avoid that!) and fresh broccoli.

You can also substitute the sun dried tomatoes for horseradish sauce for a completely different flavour! Don’t bother with the basil in that case.

Buen Provecho