Chicken with Artichokes & Olives

We threw this recipe together one night based off our pantry items. We originally envisioned using either diced or crushed tomatoes for the sauce, but Zack had just made some homemade pasta sauce a couple days before, so we were left with tomato paste. It actually probably turned out better than if we had used crushed tomatoes.


Here's what you need:
1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken (we used tenders, but you can use chicken breast if you have it)
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp black pepper, plus 1 tsp
pinch of Kosher Salt
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup chicken stock (you can substitute white wine as well)
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp dried basil
1/2 can of medium marinated artichoke hearts
1 small can sliced black olives


Here's what you do:
Start by doing your prep work. Mince up the garlic.

Slice the artichokes.

Drain the olives and add to the bowl with the artichokes.

Prep for your chicken by adding flour, 2 teaspoons of black pepper and a pinch of Kosher salt to a plate.

Cut your chicken into small, medallion size pieces. Now, just lightly dredge in the flour. Shake off any excess flour and set the chicken aside.

Heat a skillet over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of oil to shallow fry the chicken. You'll also want to pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees right now too.


Add the dredged chicken to the oil, and let sit until they are golden brown and crispy on one side. Be sure to cook the chicken in batches. You don't want to over-crowd the pan so that you can get a nice crust on the outside of the chicken.

We aren't cooking the chicken all the way through, just enough to form a nice crispy crusty on the outside. Once the chicken has browned, remove to a plate and set aside.

Drain a bit of the dirty oil off the pan, then add about a tablespoon more of clean oil back in. Add the minced garlic and let that cook for a couple of minutes, until it just starts to brown.

Now, deglaze your pan with chicken stock or white wine. You don't need much, just enough to lift the tasty bits from the bottom of the pan.

We used silicon coated kitchen tongs and really scrubbed the bottom of the pan to lift all of that fried chicken goodness.

Yum. Once you've deglazed, add the tomato paste and stir around to combine it.

Next, add the dried basil and the rest of the black pepper. Don't add any salt yet, because the black olives will add some salt to the sauce.

Now, add the olives and artichokes to the pan.

Let that heat through for just about two minutes.

Add the chicken back in the pan and toss in the sauce to coat it.

Now, just pop that in the oven for 20 minutes to let the chicken cook all the way through.

This would go great over rice with a nice glass of white wine.

Enjoy!