One-Dish Rosemary Chicken and White Beans

If you do not subscribe to the My Recipes "Dinner Tonight" newsletter already, you really should. You receive an email everyday with a recipe for dinner as well as other helpful hints and menus. Everyday! Sometimes the recipes don't really fit our tastes, but they always start the creative juices going in my brain and introduce new ideas.

This particular recipe is from Cooking Light and it came together in a snap. Chicken thighs are my new love (does that sound weird to say?). After eating chicken breasts forever, the richness and texture of the thighs are amazing (also weird, I guess!). Not to mention that they are my meat of choice for anything braised or slow cooked. So the thighs combined with the creamy white beans and the tomato sauce make a filling, warming, delicious meal.

Modifications I made to this recipe include:

• using only 4 chicken thighs. I am not sure how small the chickens are in the Cooking Light kitchens, but at my grocery store a pound of chicken thighs only gives me four.
• omitting the olives. Not a fave of Chuck's so I left them out.
• using Great Northern Beans (Goya). Whenever a recipe calls for navy, white, or cannellini beans, I head straight for the Great Northern.
• changing the cooking time. I didn't do it this time, but next time I make this tasty dish I will cook it low and slow. Meaning that instead of covering and simmering for 10 minutes at medium heat after adding the tomatoes and beans, I will try covering and simmering for at least 30 minutes at low heat. Make sure the chicken is cooked of course, but I would also like the sauce to be thicker and the flavors to meld better.

I served this with the suggested spinach and slivered red onion salad with red wine vinaigrette.

One-Dish Rosemary Chicken and White Beans

Cooking Light

Makes 2 servings (with 4 chicken thighs)

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 1 pound)
1 (14.5-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 (15-ounce) can navy beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Combine rosemary, salt, and pepper; sprinkle over one side of chicken.

Place chicken in pan, seasoned side down; cook 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; turn chicken. Add tomatoes and beans; cover and simmer 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Stir in olives.