Provençal Chicken with Brown Rice

This meal had a lot more flavor to it than I was expecting!

The rice was really good after being cooked in chicken broth. Really added a lot of flavor to it, especially since we're used to cooking rice with water. However, I am terrible at cooking rice. Terrible! I can never get it right! Maybe once in my cooking career have I made good rice. My husband rocks at it though. Even if I screw it up, he can come in and fix it! He says that the reason my rice never comes out right is because I always lift the lid off the pot and stir the rice, which makes all the steam get out... I'm sure he is right, but I just can't help but stir the rice! I'm always worried it will stick to the bottom of the pot! Maybe one of these days...

The sauce was delicious! The olives add a very unique taste to everything. The cookbook says that "caramelizing the tomato paste gives this sauce a slow-cooked flavor." Also, completely cleaning out the inside of the tomato makes sure the sauce won't become watered down. Everything was really easy to put together and didn't take too much time. And as I said, the sauce was very delicious!  Enjoy!


Provençal Chicken with Brown Rice
Pampered Chef 29 Minutes to Dinner
Published by The Pampered Chef, Ltd. in 2007.

Total time: 25 minutes  Yield: 2 servings

Rice
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup uncooked instant brown rice
1 cup chicken broth

Chicken
1 tbsp olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4-6 oz. each)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 coarsely ground black pepper

Sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste
3/4 cup water
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/4 cup pitted green olives
2 plum tomatoes

1. For rice, add oil to (1.5 qt.) Saucepan; heat over medium heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering. Add rice; stir until well coated with oil. Add broth; bring to a boil. Cover; reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Meanwhile, for chicken, add oil to (10-in.) Saute Pan; heat over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering. Season chicken with salt and black pepper. Cook chicken 3-5 minutes or until golden brown. Turn chicken over; cook 3-5 minutes or until center of chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from pan to a plate; tent with aluminum foil.
3. For sauce, reduce heat to medium; add tomato paste to same Saute Pan and cook over medium heat 2 minutes or until tomato paste is caramelized, whisking constantly with Silicone Flat Whisk. Add water and pressed garlic; simmer 2-3 minutes or until sauce begins to thicken, whisking to loosen browned bits from bottom of pan.
4. As sauce simmer, cut olives lengthwise into quarters. Peel tomatoes using Serrated Peeler. Remove cores and seeds using Core & More. Slice tomatoes lengthwise into thin strips. Add chicken, olives and tomatoes to sauce; simmer until heated through.
5. To serve, divide rice between serving plates; top with chicken.