My
mother-in-law is an impressive cook and for the past year I have been completely
taking advantage of living near her. She brings over my favorite pasta with
lentils on a whim and makes sure my freezer is always stocked with homemade
tortelli. I almost never have to think about what to feed my kids for lunch
because a couple times a week she will show up with a few meals and snacks for
them (think: spinach “meatballs”, zucchini and ricotta pasta with a side of
fish, and vegetable risotto). Mooching off my mother-in-law had been working
really well for me, until I realized that April 26th (the one-year
anniversary of our move to Italy) was coming up. If I didn’t start taking
advantage of her knowledge and actually learn
something, we could seemingly soon leave Italy and quickly go back to eating
sandwiches or Trader Joe’s frozen meals every night. Not only do I want to learn to cook from Fausta so that I can
feed my family, but I want Scotty, Matteo, and baby no. 3 to be able to prepare
their favorite recipes from nonna for their own families. I’ll be
posting Fausta’s recipes on my blog so I can someday print them and create a cookbook
(most of her recipes aren’t even written down!) and because Italian recipes are
too tasty to not be shared.
This chicken
will only take you 10-15 minutes to cook, but it feels fancy. Italians will eat
this dish alone as a “secondo”, but Americans can throw it on a dinner plate
with rice and a salad and call it a meal.
Nonna’s Chicken with Tomatoes, Olives, and Capers
Il pollo della nonna con pomodori, olive e capperi
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
½ cup flour
Olive oil
2 cloves garlic
(whole)
1 ½ cups cherry
tomatoes (halved)
Up to ¼ cup capers
½ cup olives
(green or black depending on preference and cut into halves or thirds)
1 cube vegetable
bouillon (cut into four pieces)
Salt
to taste
¼ cup pine nuts
½ cup warm water
A few basil
leaves
Instructions:
1.
Either
buy chicken breast that has already been thinly cut, or pound a regular chicken
breast with a meat mallet (starting from the center and working your way out)
until half as thick. Next, lightly flour both sides of the chicken.
2.
Pour
a generous amount of oil into the bottom of a large frying pan. Over medium
heat, add two whole cloves of garlic to the oil and sauté until partially
transparent and the aroma has hit its peak.
3.
Add
the cherry tomatoes and allow to cook for just a few minutes, until they begin
to soften and emit their aroma.
4.
Place
the floured chicken in the pan and flip when the side laying on the pan bottom
is no longer transparent.
5.
After
turning the chicken once, add capers (if from a jar, make sure you have
rinsed the capers of any vinegar), olives, the cube of vegetable bouillon, and
salt. Add ½ cup of warm water to help dissolve the bouillon and keep the
chicken moist. If necessary, turn the chicken again.
6.
Once
the chicken is cooked through, in a separate pan toast pine nuts over medium
heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the pine nuts and basil leaves to the
chicken, and cook all together for an extra minute.
7.
Pull
out the cloves of garlic and serve.
Yum! I'm drooling! I can't wait to soak in all of this deliciousness from your MIL, too!
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