.chicken marengo.

Tonight's dinner was inspired by a little dish posted on the Whole Foods website, here. I made their recipe a few months ago and the Man and I devoured it. It's savory, rich, hearty and delicious.

While trying to decide what to make with my thawed chicken breasts tonight I thought back to this meal. I made some adjustments based on what I had in the pantry and what came out of it was a healthy, filling, super tasty meal.

Sara's Chicken Marengo serves 6
1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup flour
1 large onion, diced
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (15-ounce) can black beans (I used low sodium)
1 cup chicken broth (again, I used low sodium)
1 package button mushrooms, thinly sliced
Salt, pepper, garlic salt and red pepper flakes to taste

Heat 1/4 of the oil in a large pot or saute pan over medium heat. Mix the flour and desired seasonings together. Dredge the chicken in the flour and add half of the chicken to the pan. You can do all of the chicken if you have a big enough pan, just use 1/2 of the oil. Stir occasionally until browned. Remove and place on a plate.

Add 1/4 of the oil to the pan. Saute the onion until softened. Add the tomatoes, black beans, chicken broth and browned chicken to the pan. Simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.

While this is simmering saute the mushrooms in a separate pan with the remaining 1/4 of the oil until they are golden brown. After the 45 minutes is up add the mushrooms to the other pan.

This dish is great served by itself but we put it over brown rice tonight (with a glass of red wine!) and it was so good.

XO

.grilled portobellos of awesomeness.

Hokay. Let's start by asking, have you guys discovered the awesome that is portobello mushrooms? Like, seriously? No, no, seriously?!?!

I thought I had discovered their awesomeness in college. A little place I frequented, Magnolia Cafe, had a sandwich called the portobello melt. Mushrooms, peppers, cheese.... so good. It is strips of mushroom though, not the whole cap, which I didn't realize would be so different. But still, I loved it. 

So I decided to make my own grilled portobello mushrooms for dinner tonight. Wow. WOW I say. It didn't taste anything like the sandwich had. It was dense, it was juicy, it was.... meaty? Yes indeed. I felt like I was eating meat. I completely get why the vegetarians dig on this mushroom. It was delicious.

Grilled Portobello Mushroom "Steaks"  serves 2

2 portobello mushroom caps

1 Tbsp olive oil

salt, pepper and garlic powder for taste

Start with two caps that are about the same size. The stem should be cut fairly low. Drizzle the caps with olive oil, on both sides. Liberally sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder or any other spice you enjoy. Place on a hot grill pan that has been lightly coated with olive oil, a saute pan would probably work as well. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes, turning two or three times. The mushroom will get much darker as it cooks.

I found the great thing about grilling these was I really couldn't go wrong. You can't really undercook it or overcook it. Very good for me. I do recommend using a little bit more spice than you think you need. I thought I coated mine pretty well and I still would have liked a little bit of extra flavor. Next time I will try a marinade, which is what many recipes for grilling these mushrooms suggest. Many other recipes also suggest stuffing the mushrooms with cheese, breadcrumbs, etc, which would also probably infuse more flavor.

I topped my mushroom with half of a small avocado, cause I'm one of those people, and paired it with mashed potatoes with cheese and brussels sprouts. So delicious, and so not sugar cookies. Ha.

Cook on!