Chicken with Tomatoes, Olives and Mushrooms Recipe

My Chicken tomatoes have two enviable trademarks:

They use Chicken Breasts and Fresh tomatoes.

All I did was look in my refrigerator. I had defrosted some chicken breasts with the intention of making my Schnitzel for Shabbos, but probing a little deeper, I found some very ripe tomatoes that begged to be used immediately. I also had a couple King Oyster Mushrooms, Niçoise olives, fresh rosemary and thyme. Bingo! My Schnitzel treat would have to wait, and for now it would have to morph into chicken tomatoes, olives and mushrooms.

Now, this is when I absolutely adore my large Calphalon skillet

And I mean large:  about 15  inches round, almost 3 inches deep. Ideal for all stovetop dishes, Tajine style. The  resulting dishes are always ideally succulent and saucy.

I do want to use chicken breasts in my chicken tomatoes. Dear chicken breasts detractors, give them a real chance, as in this recipe: you will be amazed how moist they come out!

Although I used King Oyster Mushrooms in this dish, they can be hard to find (I just got lucky and found them) cremini mushrooms will do just great, and in a pinch no mushrooms at all. The fresh tomatoes, not the mushrooms, are essential to my chicken tomatoes.

Because the chicken breasts are very lean, I recommend that you do use the amount of oil I am listing here. I am using 1/2 cup olive oil for 6 large whole chicken breasts, 8 to 10 servings, so, one tablespoon or a little less oil per person: Nothing wrong with that. This must be the amount of fat contained in a serving of dark chicken with no oil added.

Fresh rosemary and thyme are widely available everywhere.

Buy the chicken breasts whole (meaning, double, as shown below). No pounding, this is why they remain so moist. At the end of cooking, I slice the chicken breasts across their whole width, and get about 4-5 long slices. So, two whole chicken breasts give me about 10 slices, serving about 3 guests.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 plum tomatoes, diced
• 3 cups small cremini mushrooms, whole (or other good mushrooms you  might find, sliced or diced)
• 1 cup pitted niçoise or other good quality olives
• 2 sprigs rosemary, leaves only
• 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• Ground pepper to taste (no added salt) the chicken breasts and the olives are salty)
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup water
• 6 large whole boneless skinless chicken breasts (if skin on is available, use them and adjust the olive oil to 1/3 cup)

Instructions