Good Food Hunting

Remember those annoying commercials from the 90s; people singing the song and flapping their arms like chickens?
You don’t remember?

How about now?

Well, the product was not a big hit in the US however its still quite popular in Australia and the UK. And apparently you can get Beef Tonight and Sausage Tonight over in England. I don’t really remember it that well, in terms of ingredients but I seem to recall that it was a lot like pasta sauce that you poured over chicken instead of well, pasta. For reasons that will become apparent, I thought of this stuff while making dinner on Moday night.

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Ingredients

2 chicken breast halves, pounded thin
1 small onion, chopped
mushrooms, about 6 crimini sliced
dried morels, rehydrated in hot water for 10 minutes, save the water**
Prego pasta sauce, basil & tomato, about 1/3 of a jar
balsamic vinegar
Tuscan Seasoning Blend
garlic
2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
pasta- rice spaghetti

Directions

I used the meat mallet to pound the chicken thin after removiing the tenders. I’ve decided to do this more often since it cooks a lot faster and evenly. Heavily season both sides of the chicken breasts with the Tuscan Seasoning. This stuff, from Spice Islands comes in an adjustable grinder. It has garlic, salt, red bell pepper, orange peel and some Italian-type spices so you could make your own or a reasonable approximation. I used it on medium grind and made sure I covered both sides completely.

Start a pot of water to boil for the spaghetti. I used rice spaghetti tonight due to my dietary restrictions. I had no idea what to expect but I didn’t tell Chris until he was eating it. We were both pleased with the pasta. You really could not tell the difference between it and regular wheat pasta. I have used low-carb pasta before and it was an awful sticky mess and tasted not good.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a pan (preferablly not a non-stick one). Place your chicken breasts in the pan and don’t touch them! After 3-5 minutes, when you try to flip the chicken, it will lift off the pan easily. If its still stuck, its not ready and leave it be for 30 more seconds. Cook on the other side for an additional 3-5 minutes (same test applies). Remove chicken from pan and cover to keep warm.

Add 1 chopped garlic clove to the pan and let cook about 30 seconds. Then pour in just enough of the reserved water from the dried mushrooms to deglaze the pan. Turn the heat up slightly and add your mushrooms and onions. Saute for 3-4 minutes until onions turn translucent. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the pan, about 2 teaspoons worth. Let the onions and mushrooms cook down until they are softened and golden brown. Optional: Make a spot in the middle and add another chopped clove of garlic at this point- let saute for 20 seconds. Pour the pasta sauce in to the pan and stir to combine. Strip the leaves from the rosemary sprigs and add them to the pan. Depending on how sauce-y you want it, you can add more of the mushroom water to thin it out. Turn the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Cook the pasta while you are sauteing the mushrooms and onions. Depending on the variety and size of the pasta, your cooking times will vary so adjust accordingly. Plan to drain the pasta while the sauce is simmering in the other pan. Just before serving, add the pasta to the sauce so it can absorb some of the tomato flavor.

To serve, top the pasta & sauce with the chicken and garnish with cheese and fresh basil if you’ve got it.

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Notes

You can use any mushrooms or mushroom combination of course. I used what was on hand. Ideally, you want equal amounts of uncooked mushrooms and onions, if not more mushrooms.

Of course, use whatever pasta sauce you prefer also. Chris likes this Prego variety because it makes a good base for all kinds of things including pizza sauce (just add some tomato paste). I like it because its organic and not full of a bunch of junk like high-fructose corn syrup. It does have sugar but even homemade pasta sauce has sugar quite often. And again, you can easily enhance it depending on the requirements of the dish.