And the weight loss is back on track, and meals still really tasty. From the Always Hungry? today I picked the Mediterranean Chicken recipe to try. The recipe struck me as  lacking oomph that I needed today, but a meal plan is a meal plan. This was, at least, a one-pot meal, and easy.

Refrigerator tidying was in progress at the same time as I started preparing the chicken. Some of the things that I found lurking in the back of the fridge ended up in the  Mediterranean chicken–though I played with it a bit, the final dish contained all the ingredients called for in the recipe–well, except one. That recipe called for putting green beans in near the end of the cooking time. I didn’t do that. Just didn’t trip my trigger, and since I made the whole four servings I’ll need to reheat and that wouldn’t work well with the green beans. (The haricots verts that I had in the fridge turned into a side that has always been a favorite: room temperature with sweet marjoram infused olive oil, and a sprinkle of Maldon salt–keeping with the spirit of the meal plan.)

The basic recipe is simple: chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces, sautéed with onion, then simmered with canned tomatoes with garlic, olives–salt and pepper, of course. The recipe called for kalamata olives–not what I had so I used a mix of green (that had been marinated in garlic and red pepper flakes), and oil-cured black olives to make up the 3/4 cup called for in the recipe. I was surprised that there were no herbs called for here–but I remedied that!

Ingredients

NOTE: The pickled garlic cloves were from tidying the fridge and I thought the bit of tartness would be nice since the tomatoes were very sweet smelling. The garlic cloves and the green olives both had hot red pepper flakes, so I didn’t need to add. If I were doing this without these, I’d likely add about 5 or 6 cloves of garlic sliced thin, a dash of red pepper flakes, and a splash of vinegar–likely white wine.

• 1 pound of skinless, boneless  chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup of pitted oil-cured black olives and green olives, halved
• 1-1/2 cups of chopped onions (I cheated and used frozen ones)
• a 28-ounce can of whole San Marzano tomatoes, hand-crushed into the pan,  the thick juice added as well
• 1/2 cup of pickled garlic cloves, sliced
• one 14-ounce can of garbanzo beans
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried Turkish oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (olives were salty)
• 1/3 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 3  tablespoons olive oil
• feta cheese for garnish

Preparation

• In a large skillet or brasier  heat the olive oil
• Sauté the onion until translucent, add the sliced garlic a continue to sauté until fragrant
• Add the chicken, salt, and olives a sauté until the chicken is opaque
• Add the tomatoes, black pepper, and garbanzo beans
• Simmer uncovered for about 35 minutes until the sauce thickens nicely
• Garnish with feta cheese and serve with vegetable or salad

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In my tidying of kitchen and fridge, there were a small handful of cherry and grape tomatoes on the counter, so I pitched those in as well. I think that my modifications were in keeping with the spirit of the meal plan–even though the green beans migrated to a side dish. Those were a nice contrast to the dish–and now I can put part of it into the freezer for later use. This nice spicy, garlicky combination of chicken, tomatoes, and garbanzos would have been lovely accompanied by a glass of red wine, but–that will come later; meanwhile, I’m eating healthy, tasty food and losing weight.

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