Mediterranean Braised Chicken

I regret to admit that my plan to do all of my Christmas shopping safely online this year got sidelined.  Like, really quickly. 💁🏻‍♀️ I tried - I really did.  Honest. 🖥

The biggest obstacle to my online gift buying plan was shipping fees.  (Am I the only person too cheap to pay for shipping?) 💸 I just can't seem to justify paying more to ship a basketball than it costs to buy one.🏀 I would rather drive to the store to pick up my purchases than pay  extra to have gifts delivered to my house.  🚗 

All this running around to pick up online purchases was NOT part of my plan for this Christmas.  But if I'm being honest - my Christmas shopping never goes as planned.  😅 I was naive to believe that I'd be able to get my entire list of Christmas gifts delivered to my home without any extra cost.  🤷🏻‍♀️

It should come as no surprise that December is the busiest month of the year for a self employed baker who specialized in cookies. 👩🏻‍🍳 My December baking schedule  has to operate with military precision in order for all of my orders to go out on time.  And my schedule is extra tight this year which means that there's not a lot of extra time for Target pick up runs.  

When time is short - dinner is the first thing to get pushed to the back burner.  We could eat broken sugar cookies for dinner and nobody would complain but I prefer to eat something healthier as fuel for this hectic holiday season.  Fussy, time consuming dinners are NOT an option this month soooo quick and easy meals are the name of the game.  The operative word is ... QUICK.  Mediterranean Braised Chicken is the perfect meal for busy nights.  It's quick - it's easy - it's healthy and it's DELICIOUS!   

Mediterranean Braised Chicken
4 bone in chicken breasts
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
1 pound small red potatoes
5 shallots
3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup kalamata olives
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup oil packed sun dried tomatoes, chopped
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Season chicken with 1/2 t. salt, pepper and herbs de Provence.

Place chicken, skin side down, in a cold skillet.  Heat to medium and cook 12 minutes or browned.  Transfer to plate.

Pour off fat, reserving 2 T.  Add potatoes, shallots and 1/2 t. salt to reserved fat at cook 5 minutes. 

Stir in garlic and cook 30 seconds.  Stir in broth, olives, wine, tomatoes and thyme. 

Transfer chicken back to skillet, skin side up.  Transfer to 350 oven and bake 30-35 minutes.  (165 degrees)

Transfer chicken to serving platter.  Bring skillet sauce to a boil and cook 7 minutes until thickened.  

​Discard thyme and stir in parsley.  

Spoon sauce over chicken and serve with vegetables. 

One final tip: Don't skip the wine in this recipe. 🍷 Even though it's only a quarter cup, it's an important ingredient to add richness to the sauce.  A small amount goes into the recipe and the rest of the bottle is left for you to enjoy.  Merry Christmas friends.  

​Ciao!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe