There are lots of things you can serve with chicken, but lately I’ve had fun putting things on chicken. I stick with simple chicken itself, either tossed in flour and pan-cooked in olive oil or seasoned with salt and pepper and grilled. These basic preparations provide a great base.
Then on to the fun part! Smothering. This is where you can be creative with whatever’s in your fridge or at the farmer’s market. Like tomatoes and leeks…
This is a pan-cooked chicken cutlet with a bacon, leek and tomato sauce. I cooked the bacon then took it out, leaving some bacon drippings. Then I sautéed the leeks and tomatoes in the bacony goodness (how to: prepare leeks). With a little bit of butter and a couple table spoons of flour, I made a roux and stirred in a cup of chicken stock. When this thickened, I added the bacon back in, mixed it together and there’s the BLT sauce.
And when life hands you hatch chiles…
This is a similar process – a no-recipe recipe! I sautéed the mushrooms and green chiles then made a roux and added a cup of chicken stock. I added a dollop of sour cream at the end. Spooned over grilled chicken, tasty!
So the basics:
- saute chopped veggies
- make a sauce with a roux and chicken stock
- serve over simply-prepared chicken
Easy, right? And all “real food” ingredients. No cans or cream of whatever soup. This could be good with all kinds of veggies, peppers and herbs. And of course bacon.
What would be some good combinations to try? Give me some more ideas…
grit & grace 
And if you’re blessed with Hatch chilies, they are a cinch to freeze. Roast the whole chilies on your grill until they are slightly browned. Cool slightly and then put them in a zip bag to steam a bit. When completely cool, peel off the skins, remove seeds and chop. Freeze in ice cube trays or cupcake tins. Pop out and freeze the blobs in a bag. Use these instead of canned green chilies when you are making delicious white chili in the winter, or to make Diana’s recipe at any time of year!
Are we related or what? They’re in the freezer already, though I just froze them whole. Would have done the blobs instead. And we’re lucky enough to buy them fresh-roasted at the store.