Mediterranean Chicken

For Sunday dinner, I try to make something a little bit more special than usual. Since Jules, Atsi, and Mark were staying for dinner, I decided to make Mediterranean Chicken. It's a super easy recipe I found on Food Network and decided to modify a little bit to suit our taste. It's super easy to make and can be prepared ahead of time so the whole house smells great while it is simmering on the stove.

This is a surefire meal to serve when you want to impress people by saying you slaved over a hot stove all day (in fact it takes less than 20 minutes to prepare).

Here are the ingredients:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
8-10 pieces chicken thighs (skinless)
2 tsp. olive oil
1 large onion (sliced)
3 Roma tomatoes (diced)
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup Marsala or any dry red wine
1/4 cup parsley (roughly chopped)
1/2 cup olives (pitted)
3 tbs. capers
1/2 cup prunes

What I did differently:
1.) I did not add prunes (which I hate).
2.) Instead of Roma tomatoes and Chicken stock, I added 2 cans of diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning.
3.) I also added 4 cloves of chopped garlic, 1 green pepper (sliced), 1 yellow pepper (sliced), 1 zucchini (diced), and 1 Italian squash (diced). I wanted to make it a one-dish meal so I added lots of extra veggies.
4.) I did not follow the measurements strictly ... I just eyeballed it most of the time =)

Dredge chicken in flour, oregano, black pepper and salt.
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan and brown chicken on all sides. Remove and set aside.
Add onions, garlic to the pan. Saute.
Add wine to deglaze the pan.
Add diced tomatoes, green and yellow pepper, zucchini, Italian squash, capers and olives.
Return chicken to the pan.
Reduce heat and simmer till you are ready to eat (ideally about an hour).
Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

I served this dish with toasted foccacia bread and we had a tiny (not home-made) cheesecake for dessert. I received rave reviews! It was so good that by the time I thought about taking a picture, the dish was wiped out! I'm posting a picture I found online that kinda, sorta looks like what we had tonight.
Try this recipe. Trust me, if I can do it, so can you!