It Started Out Creole....

The day before Mardi Gras (y'know, Lundi Gras), my two daily recipe providers felt the need to do some kind of New Orleans-themed e-mails because, hey, laissez les bon [sic] temps roulez. Coincidentally, they both highlighted a Creole chicken dish as their main attraction, and I thought both recipes had potential.

That said, I wound up eliminating the one from MyRecipes.com because it contains okra, and I'm no fan of okra. In fact, one summer when I was a kid, Dad grew some in the garden, and I seem to recall Mum broke out in hives every time she touched the stuff. Yeah, thems some pleasant childhood memories. (Don't ask about the time he grew beets and Mum canned 'em.) I can't say that I've ever eaten okra, but I vividly recall its smell from that summer, and...well, we all know how much of an impact olfactory memories can have.

Let me tell you, Gentle Reader, about the one I did make.

Chicken Creole1 T olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, sliced thin
1 green bell pepper, minced
2 16-oz. cans diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1/2 t NaCl
1/8 t cayenne pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.
   
3. Add the garlic, onion, celery and bell pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender (about 4 min.).
   
4. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, salt and cayenne pepper. Cook this Creole sauce 3 min. longer, stirring often.
   
5. Arrange the chicken breasts in an 8" x 11" baking dish. Pour the Creole sauce over the chicken.
   
6. Bake the chicken 15 to 20 min. so the chicken is tender and white throughout.

Yield: 4 servings

Nutritional Info
Calories: 225
Fat: 4.9 g
Cholesterol: 68 mg
Sodium: 901 mg
Carbs: 11.8 g
Fiber: 2.9 g
Protein: 29.7 g

The Faudie's Futzings
As I stated in the title for this post, this recipe started out Creole...but I futzed with it enough that it wound up more faux-Mexican. How'd I manage that, you ask, Gentle Reader?

Like I'm not going to tell you....

I replaced the two cans of diced tomatoes with two cans of Rotel (well, the HEB brand of Rotel) because, well, I didn't want something bland to eat Sunday, and I was quite afraid that would be the result if I used just diced tomatoes. And an eighth of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper is, like, nothing. It's a hint of flavor--that's all.

That bell pepper I didn't mince. I kept it in strips, as if for fajitas. The Faux-tel contains minced green chiles, so I wanted a little differentiation between them and the green bell pepper pieces.

I also didn't bake the chicken. Lumpy has great insulation to keep the heat inside, but the house was 80 degrees Sunday afternoon, and I just didn't feel like turning the oven on. Instead, I sauted the chicken, set it aside, then sauted the veggies, then threw in the Rotel and cayenne. (I skipped the bay leaf. And the salt.) Once the sauce was ready, I nestled the chicken in the skillet and topped the pieces with some of the veggies. Then I partially covered the skillet and let the stuff simmer for 20 minutes, turning the chicken occasionally and recovering it with veggies and sauce. Perfecto!

While the not-quite-Creole chicken was simmering, I prepared some basmati rice to serve as a nice bed for the chicken dish. I'd given a fair amount of thought to making some black beans to go along with the rice and chicken a la Mum's chicken, beans and rice that the boy so loves, but I figured the chicken and veggies would suffice. Plus the husband won't touch black beans.

Speaking of not touching, I wound up eating a lot more of the veggies than the boys did, but I honestly expected it. I will give them a few mad props because they each ate a few onions and green bell pepper stripes, and neither of them bitched about the celery (and I suspected they didn't notice those pieces amidst the diced green chiles).

The chicken was quite delicious, and all three human residents of Chez Boeckman-Walker enjoyed it. I will warn you, Gentle Reader, that the Faux-tel added quite a bit of kick to the dish. But that's the way I like it!