Thankfully I write this in Word first.  Tumblr didn’t actually post my entire post with photos and all! 

Continuing on a cheap dinner theme, I bought 4 Springer Mountain chicken thighs on sale for under $3.  They aren’t perfect, but fairly good chickens- no antibiotics and humanely treated.  I wish they were outside getting greens and bugs, like I said, they aren’t perfect. 

Anyway, I decided on a dreary summer day that stewing or braising the chicken in a tomato based sauce would be perfect.  My youngest had picked out wagon wheel-shaped pasta, so I thought this would go well with it.  Since I still had some ratatouille left I knew it would go great with the chicken, but how to have it so all the kids would eat it… I added only about 1/2 cup full toward the end.  It added a wonderful subtle smokiness to the dish.  So, also using a CSA zucchini I’d forgotten that I had put in the fruit drawer since I had no more room elsewhere in my fridge and mushrooms I bought, I made a wonderful meal that everyone loved.  And since all of this was made in one pot (besides boiling the pasta), it was an easy clean-up.

Chicken Zucchini and Mushrooms

4 Chicken thighs (I used with skin & bones on)

1 large (or 2 small) zucchini- sliced

1 cup shiitake and crimini mushrooms- destemmed and sliced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 shallot (or 1/2 white/yellow onion), minced

1/3 cup white wine

1 tsp chicken base (Knorr Roasted Chicken Base)

1/4 cup water

2 cups chopped tomatoes

2 Tbsp fresh thyme- chopped

1 Tbsp parsley- chopped

olive oil

salt and pepper

Optional: I added 1/2 cup of grilled vegetable ratatouille that I had left over. 

Heat olive oil in hot pan, brown the chicken (seasoned with salt and pepper) skin side down first for about 4-5 minutes each side.  Set aside.  Pour off excess fat.  Sauté shallot, garlic and mushrooms (if necessary add a little more olive oil) over medium high heat and set aside when done (not brown).  Keep stove on med-high and pour wine into pan and let boil off for a minute.  Scrape sides of pan to get chicken bits and then add chicken base and water.  Stir well.  Add chopped tomatoes, herbs, shallots and garlic.  Add chicken so that skin side is down, cover with sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Cover pan and reduce heat.  Let simmer for 30 minutes, giving it an occasional stir.  Add zucchini and mushrooms (and ratatouille if you have it) Cover.  Simmer another 10-15 minutes.  You can either take chicken off the bones or leave whole. 

Serve with pasta or rice.  We took ours off the bones (since there were 4 pieces but 5 people) and also added the pasta to the pan. 

This can be done with various different vegetables and without mushrooms.  It’s very delicious the next day too! My middle son whined so long that he didn’t want it.  I even tried to record him… he loved it and finished it without fuss. 

 They all did!