Italian Chicken and Green Olives
This recipe will make you look so good! The red and yellow peppers with the green olives, in the rich creamy sauce, makes a beautiful presentation! I served it for company just the other night and my guests said, "you missed your calling in life, you should have your own restaurant." (It was really good) This recipe is number one on my "companys coming" recipe list!
This recipe will make you look so good! The red and yellow peppers with the green olives, in the rich creamy sauce, makes a beautiful presentation! I served it for company just the other night and my guests said, "you missed your calling in life, you should have your own restaurant." (It was really good) This recipe is number one on my "companys coming" recipe list!
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 tblsp olive oil
- 3 tablespoons butter divided
- 6 chicken breast filets
- 1 lg. onion finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 each red, yellow & green bell peppers seeded and cut into large pieces
- 3 medium tomatoes peeled and seeded (quartered)
- 10 ounces white mushrooms sliced or cut into fourth's
- 1 1/2 cups dry white cooking wine
- 2 cups green olives pitted lg
- fresh italian parsley chopped
- Carbohydrate 15.7714695833333 g
- Cholesterol 153.783229166667 mg
- Fat 36.1360472916667 g
- Fiber 4.07509999688466 g
- Protein 40.1706835416667 g
- Saturated Fat 13.7657975 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (482g)
- Sodium 933.515083333333 mg
- Sugar 11.6963695864487 g
- Trans Fat 2.678303625 g
- Calories 559 calories
Step-by-step
- Sautee salted & peppered chicken in 2 tblsp of olive oil and 2 tblsp butter till browned
- Remove chicken from pan
- Add onions and garlic and sauted till soften
- Add the bell peppers and mushrooms, cook for 2-3 minutes
- Add the tomatoes and olives and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Transfer veggies to a casserole pan
- Arrange chicken on top of veggies
- To the same pan, add the cooking wine to the skillet and bring to a boil over med heat and simmer 3-5 minutes. Add the heavy cream and simmer for another 3-5 minutes.
- Add 1 tblsp butter and simmer 3 more minutes
- (At this point you may thicken with corn starch if you like a thicker sauce)
- Pour sauce over chicken and veggies (At this point you may refrigerate to save time when preparing for dinner guests. Just add another 10 minutes to cooking time.)
- Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-20 minutes (hot and bubbly)
- Serve over angel hair pasta; compliment with a Caesar Salad, bread.
Swapping heavy cream for crème fraîche alters the final sauce by introducing a pleasant lactic tang that cuts right through the salinity of the green olives. Historically, combinations of poultry, salted fruit like olives, and sweet bell peppers trace their lineage back through Mediterranean coastal traditions where overlapping preservation methods naturally seasoned daily dishes. Heavy cream, however, demands careful management when reduced with dry white cooking wine; boiling the liquid too aggressively will break the emulsion and separate the dairy fats.
Multiplying this dish for large gatherings requires precise attention to surface area rather than simple arithmetic. Doubling the ingredients means utilizing a wide, heavy-bottomed braising pan or splitting the vegetables across two separate baking dishes, because crowding the mushrooms and bell peppers causes them to steam in their own moisture instead of browning. Retaining that initial pan-sear on the chicken breast filets depends entirely on thoroughly drying the meat with paper towels before it touches the 350-degree oven or stovetop oil.
Pan-searing temperatures should remain moderately high, around medium-high heat, using a blend of olive oil and butter to prevent the milk solids from scorching too quickly. Once the vegetables transfer to the casserole pan and the white wine reduces by half over three to five minutes, incorporating the heavy cream slowly prevents curdling. Cooks frequently ruin this dish by skipping the reduction step for the wine, leaving behind raw alcohol flavors that overpower the delicate sweetness of the red and yellow bell peppers.
Preparing components ahead of time works well, provided the assembled casserole rests in the refrigerator for no longer than twenty-four hours before baking. Chilled dishes require an extended baking window of thirty minutes covered in foil, followed by five minutes uncovered to achieve a bubbly perimeter. Fresh Italian parsley, chopped finely just before service, restores volatile herbal top notes that dissipate during extended baking cycles.
