palace of winds

Feta Chicken & Vegetables

(Er, sorry the picture’s fuzzy. The camera apparently got confused about which chicken to focus on.)

Servings: 2
Points: 5

• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram or thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 (4-ounce) skinned, boned chicken breast halves
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Cooking spray
• 2/3 cup red bell pepper strips
• 1/2 cup vertically sliced red onion
• 1/3 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled feta cheese, divided
• Oregano sprigs (optional)

Combine first 4 ingredients in a shallow dish. Dredge chicken in flour mixture.

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Add bell pepper, onion, broth, and vinegar to pan; cook 5 minutes or until vegetables are soft, stirring frequently. Spoon bell pepper mixture into a bowl; stir in 2 tablespoons cheese.

Return chicken to pan, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese. Cover; cook over low heat 2 minutes or until cheese melts.

Divide the vegetable mixture evenly between 2 plates, and top each serving with a chicken breast half. Garnish with oregano sprigs, if desired.

* * *

REVIEW

Prep: I cook for three people; with this recipe it was easy to add another chicken breast and another half of all the ingredients. We didn’t have any red bell pepper on hand, so I substituted fresh chopped tomatoes. They’re red, so they add that nice color, and I like the taste of tomato with feta cheese. We also didn’t have any red onions, so I used yellow. I expect my dish came out generally milder than the one described above — less sweet, less spice.

To make the entire dinner pictured (the broccoli and the perhaps somewhat incongruous garlic potato crisp thingies, which have become a staple in our house) it took me just over an hour, I believe, but that was because I thought the chicken would actually cook in four minutes on a side. It was browned, certainly, but wasn’t cooked through in that time. (Perhaps it hadn’t quite been defrosted? I don’t know.) Anyhow, you can plan to be able to do a little more of the prep work — chopping, measuring, etc — while the chicken is cooking in the pan. I’ll put up the recipe for the potatoes sometime. They’re incredibly easy (now that we have a mandolin for slicing them, anyhow).

Verdict: Yum. Loved the flavor of thyme on the chicken. Loved the feta. A good year-round dish, I think. I’m writing this a week late, so I don’t have anything more specific to say any more. Everyone enjoyed it, and it’s another that you can probably throw together with stuff you already have on hand.