Coconut Creamed Tomato Basil Smothered Chicken

Last night I posted an Instagram pic of a plate of one of my favorite dinner meals as of late and received requests for the "recipe."  Well, in my savory cooking, I never have a recipe, but I tried to piece one together for you.  In Layman's terms, this dish is basically sauteed chicken and mushrooms smothered in simple Italian based red sauce creamed up with coconut milk.  So, run with it as you want; modify it to your likes/dislikes/preferences...I don't care.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken thighs (could certainly use breasts, but thighs are best!!!  Dark meat > white meat)
• 1 lb cremini mushrooms sliced
• 1/4 chopped onion
• 2- cloves minced fresh garlic
• 1- cup chicken stock (for deglazing pan; could certainly use red wine here, too/instead)
• 1- can fire roasted diced tomatoes roughly blended in a blender/ food processor/hand immersion blender)  
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil or ~ 2 tsp-1 Tbs. of dried basil
• ~2 tsp. dried parsley
• 1 Tbs. honey
• 1/2 can full fat coconut milk
• salt/pepper/onion & garlic powder to taste

In a large cast iron skillet/saute/sauce pan on med/high heat, brown salted/peppered chicken pieces on both sides.  They don't have to be completely cooked through at this point.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Add additional olive/coconut oil to pan, and saute mushrooms, onion, and garlic until slightly browned and caramelized (salt this mixture).  At this point, your pan should have quite a bit of caramelization on the bottom.  With heat still on med-high, add the chicken stock/red wine/mix of both to deglaze the pan scraping up all those brown bits and juices.  That liquid should reduce fairly quick.

Add blended can of tomatoes, parsley, basil, honey.  Stir to combine with mushroom mixture and return chicken to the pan.  Chicken should be mostly smothered with mixture.  You'll probably need to add additional water to the mixture in order for sauce to almost cover chicken.  Don't fret; it will eventually cook out.  Cover and simmer on low to cook chicken and tenderize for about 15-30 minutes (depending on how long you have; chicken thighs don't need much time to cook or tenderize).

Then, uncover and continue to simmer in order to reduce the sauce quite a bit.  Once sauce has reduced to a pretty thick consistency, add 1/2 can of coconut milk.  Stir to incorporate, and turn off heat.  Season to taste (will need to add salt again most likely).  Let cool a bit, and serve!


I suck at writing savory recipes.  In a nut shell:

• saute and season everything, deglaze pan, add tomaters and herbs, cook and reduce, add coconut milk...done!  

If you want tasty food, then SALT IT!  The difference between "edible" food and "amazing" food is salt.