Chicken in red sauce

Greetings once again, Dear Reader. Ya know, I'm kinda really diggin' this Recipe Tuesday. I like cooking. It's fun. As with everything, if you like it, lemme know. Oh. Turned comment moderation off. My brain don't wanna work that way. Apologies to those whose comments I deleted by accident, yes I feel like a dork. Please comment again if you are desiring of doing so.
Now. Onto dinner:


Quick Chicken in Red Sauce over Pasta (serves 3, double or triple for more)

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon E.V.O.O.
1 cup onion, chopped (I used a medium yellow onion. figured it was close enough)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (7 oz) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped medium (I regularly poach chicken for chicken salad, had some on hand)
Pasta, for plating (I used fettucine, you can use just about anything you want or have on hand)



Heat the butter and oil over medium high heat just until shimmery. Add the onions and garlic, saute until translucent. Add the tomatoes, sauce, mushrooms, sugar, spices, salt and chicken.









Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low. Stirring occasionally, simmer on medium low heat about 15 minutes or until sauce is reduced. Serve over pasta.







This started life as a recipe I actually filched from a cooking magazine and then changed. The original recipe was the red sauce for a chicken lasagne, called for less garlic, less mushrooms and more chicken, and had the addition of wine. I wasn't in the mood for wine in it tonight, although if you like, feel free to toss in 1 cup of a dry white.
And yes. It does double duty as a kick ass red sauce for a lasagne.


THE CHICKEN: I end up poaching chicken 2-3 times a month for chicken salad. To do that, I bring 3-4 cups water to a boil in my saute pan with either an 'Italian Seasoning' blend or a 'Cajun Spice' seasoning blend in it (about 2 tablespoons) and some salt and fresh ground pepper. Slip in a chicken breast or 2, bring it back up to JUST UNDER the boil and reduce the heat to medium low (the goal is to keep it right below boiling). Simmer about 15-20 minutes depending on thickness, drain, chop. TaDa! Poached chicken. You can throw wine in here too. Or chicken broth. Or veggie broth. Throw in some soy, maybe. Depends on what you want the finished chicken to taste like. But poaching is a piece of cake.