Here Comes the Sun (Dried Tomatoes)

For Christmas, my mom gave me the Bon Appetit Cookbook Desk Calendar, which I keep on my desk at work. Rarely does a day go by that I’m not distracted by the recipe du jour and lost in food-thought for about 30 minutes. The first featured dish I decided to try my hand at was a chicken and sun-dried tomato sauce concoction, chosen because I had a huge bunch of beautiful, fragrant fresh basil in the fridge (thank you DeKalb Farmer’s Market for selling such spectacular basil bouquets for a mere $0.99). The finished product earned an “it’s amazing… mmm, cream” from the bf, so here’s hoping that you’ll receive similar kudos if you give it a whirl.

Braised Chicken in Sun-Dried Tomato Cream

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp. oil from oil-packed sun dried tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ c. dry white wine
1/3 c. heavy cream
¼ c. sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
3 tbsp. fresh basil, sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the sun-dried tomato oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add to pan. Sauté 4 minutes on each side. Add the garlic and let cook for about 30 seconds (be careful not to brown it—it can get bitter). Add the wine, cream and sun-dried tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, covered, about 4 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a serving plate. Return the skillet to the heat and add the basil. Raise the heat until the sauce boils and cook about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and spool sauce over chicken.

Serving Suggestions: I paired this dish with winter vegetable ratatouille and buttered rigatoni. For the veggies, I diced up what I had on hand (squash, broccoli, and an onion) and tossed them in olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking sheet, which I popped in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes. Then I tossed in some cherry tomatoes (leave them whole) and cooked another 10 minutes, until the tomatoes burst. I sprinkled on a little basil right before serving. The rigatoni I just tossed with butter, garlic salt and grated Parmesan. I made a bed for the chicken with the rigatoni, so plenty of the sauce dripped down and gave it some extra flavor.