Chicken Breasts w/ Fennel, Tomatoes & Olives



I swear I made this in between the holiday feasting and a blizzard last night as a quick and healthy meal.

It is good for any season, and we loved it over couscous. This recipe from French chef Eric Ripert is a keeper.

Since it is winter, I adapted the recipe. I used canned tomatoes instead of fresh, omitted the basil garnish, plumped the raisins in water instead of wine, and used slivered almonds instead of pine nuts.

Read on.

Chicken Breasts w/ Fennel, Tomatoes & Olives
(adapted from Avec Eric):

4 chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded thin
1 large fennel bulb, sliced very thin (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup golden raisins, plumped in white wine (or hot water)
1 cup of seeded, peeled tomatoes (I used a can of diced tomatoes without the juice)
1/2 cup of green olives, sliced
1/4 cup pine nuts (I used slivered almonds)
2 tbsp capers
leaves from 4 thyme sprigs
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 large shallots, chopped
olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
basil chiffonade or fresh parsley for garnish

It's pretty simple. Open up the chicken breasts and pound them nice and thin. Season w/ salt & pepper.
Oil a baking dish and lay the chicken breasts flat.

Mix the fennel, olives, raisins, tomatoes, nuts, garlic, shallots & capers in a mixing bowl, season with kosher salt & pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

Pour this mixture over the chicken breasts and drizzle with more olive oil, kosher salt & pepper. Bake in a 450F oven for about 15-20 minutes.



Serve chicken breasts over couscous (I like the Near East Mediterranean Pine Nut flavor).

DELICIOUS and easy.



Comments

The Food Hunter said…
Always looking for new chicken recipes. This sounds really good. I love cooking with fennel too.
Claudia said…
Leftovers today. Your chicken (or Chef Eric's) tomorrow. Happy snow day!
AllThingsYummy said…
I was looking for a chicken dish for dinner tonight and now I've found it. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome! I love chix breast because it's so healthy, but I get soo bored with it. This looks anything but boring! And I love Near East couscous, too :)

Sues
Delicious and easy are two of my favorite words.

Stay warm Stacey.
Sam
Ciao Chow Linda said…
Any recipe by Eric is ok by me.
Looks beautiful - I could go for something light right now! Happy New Year, Stace!
Unknown said…
Tonight! We loved the chicken adobo last week.
The JR said…
One of these days I'll get around to trying couscous.
I need to be eating this come January 1! It's healthy and packed with flavor!