I love all things
olive. I even have a favorite olive outside black and green. Castelvetrano
olives are the best olives in my opinion. They are a beautiful bright green
Sicilian olive. The flavor of these olives is what I find so unique about them.
They are not extremely salty and have a meaty buttery quality about them. The
first time I had this olive was in Rome during an open air market. I was there with
my friend Heather and my family for two week in 2009 and our apartment (read my funny story about Heather and I mixed with wine and the old door the first night) was very close to an outdoor market on
an off street by the Vatican. There
was a vendor that had tons of olives in bins and we tried these, and they were
amazing! My favorite snack of the trip consisted of these olives, red wine and
a cigarette….memories. I did not have them again in the US until they popped up
on a salad at a local Italian restaurant. Since then, I have seen them a
handful of times in different olive bowls.
Since I love all
things olive I knew I needed to make Savory Tart’s recipe for Chicken Thighs inTomatoes and Olive Sauce when she posted it for our red and green Improv Cooking
Challenge in December. I opted to use
chicken breasts over the thigh because my store did not have skinless and skin
in the crockpot not a favorite of mine. The recipe calls for fresh herbs and
delicious briny capers. I loved that the flavors of the fresh herbs came out in
the dish because I was worried they would be lost in the long cooking time. The
original recipe also called for fire roasted, but my store was out and I used
regular tomatoes which produced a delicious result.
I served this
with wild rice to soak up the sauce and a crisp green salad. It was a beautiful
plate and full of color. The chicken was wonderful and the sauce so flavorful.
If you are not an olive fan this may not be the dish for you, but the long cooking
time mellows the strong flavor from the olives a bit.
Tonight, we are hanging around the house and getting caught
up on laundry and fun things like that. However, the best part of the night
will be finally getting to watch the movie Fury. I am keeping my fingers
crossed that Kellen got wore out at daycare and will be in bed early (or I will
just be tired tomorrow!).
Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 medium yellow onion, halved and sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, minced
28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 Tbl capers, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup pitted green olives, quartered
1 Tbl fresh thyme
2 tsp fresh oregano
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
Add the onions, tomatoes, olives, capers, and fresh herbs to the bottom of the slow cooker. Place chicken on top of tomato mixture and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cook on low 7-8 hours. To plate, remove chicken from slow cooker and spoon the sauce over the top. The sauce will have lots of liquid and you mat want to use a slotted spoon.