Feel like you’re fine dining in a fancy restaurant when you dish up this Italian Skillet Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Artichokes.
I just got back from the grocery store, so I’m feeling a little bit of anxiety. Okay, kind of a lot of anxiety. Grocery shopping is not fun for me.
Every time I walk into a grocery store, it’s like entering a war zone or a mine field where no matter what isle I turn down, there is potential for disaster. Grocery shopping combines two of my greatest panic catalysts: spending money and wasting food.
You would think that being a food blogger, I would enjoy the creativity that comes from perusing a market, gathering a medley of ingredients that I can use to assemble fresh, flavorful food.
Quite the opposite.
I freeze in the store, racking my brain over unit prices and how I can utilize EVERYTHING that goes into my cart. I stare at fruits and veggies that I would like to buy, but unfortunately do not qualify under my “cheap enough” category. Let’s just say we end up eating a lot of apples, bananas, and oranges. Berries are kind of a novelty around here. I wish I didn’t care so much. But, I do.
Our veggie variety is most often comprised of carrots, celery, and lettuce. Radishes, beets, leeks, asparagus??? Sorry Charlie, there ain’t no room for you in my psycho budget. You’ll have to wait for another day; a day where you are the manager’s special.
Now occasionally I will splurge and buy something that isn’t on sale, but then, by golly, you bet I use every last ounce of it. No way I’m throwing food AND money down the drain.
Not too long ago I treated myself to a 3 count variety pack of Boursin brand Gournay cheese from Costco. Have you guys tried that stuff??? It. Is. Delicious. Dang delicious!
I used one pack in some mashed potatoes that I made over the holidays. I may have bought the 3 pack to use for Christmas mashers, but I still had two extra packs chilling in the fridge. Don’t worry, cheese lasts quite a long time when it hasn’t been opened. I promise I didn’t have moldy packs of cheese sitting around. Although, isn’t cheese mold anyway??? Okay, getting off topic here.
In addition to my aging cheese, I also had half a Costco sized bottle of sun-dried tomatoes AND marinated artichoke hearts in the fridge.
You guys, I spent money on all three of these items, and they just weren’t getting used as quickly as I had anticipated. You can imagine my anxiety. Every time I opened the fridge, it’s like these boxes of cheese and jars of tomatoes and artichokes were taunting me and laughing in my face, “You stupid gullible woman that shops at Costco for your measly family of four. Did you really think you could eat all of us in time???!”
Rude talking food.
But hey, when I’m challenged or mocked, most often I can rise to the challenge. Bring it on you inanimate edible ingredients you! I will find a way to put you in my belly.
And thus I did.
My family raved over this elegant Italian Skillet Chicken with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Artichokes so much that I made it twice in the last two weeks. This meal, combined with some creative salads, toast spreads, and another batch of creamy mashed potatoes, and I’m proud to say that those boxes of cheese and jars of sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts are G-O-N-E.
I WIN!
Oh yeah, this meal also polished off the last of the Costco sized bottle of white wine I had sitting on the counter top. Although I never really have any issues using up my wine…and I don’t even drink! Haha! I think I need to go to AA meetings for cooking with wine. I really am addicted to the enhancement of flavor that it brings to most of my dishes. Yay for wine!
Okay, back to this chicken dish.
Did you know chicken could be so fancy??? Honestly, if I know I’m going to get a perfectly cooked, crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, piece of chicken, I would take that any day over a five star piece of steak or fish. I do love me some chicken.
This Italian skillet chicken is no exception. First, I marinated some chicken breast in Italian dressing overnight. Our family prefers the Olive Garden Italian dressing that you can buy in a 2 pack at…you guessed it…COSTCO!!! I swear this isn’t a Costco sponsored post here. Haha!
After marinating the chicken and letting those flavors permeate, I cooked them on a cast iron skillet in some olive oil on both sides until golden brown and crispy. Perfection.
Once the chicken is done cooking, you deglaze the pan with my coveted white wine and throw in a handful of sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts. Season them to taste, if needed, and your topping is complete.
Wait, no it’s not. What takes this dish to the next level is the creamy crumble of Gournay cheese on top. You can use either flavor: garlic and fine herbs or shallot and chives. If you can’t find Boursin brand cheese at your local grocery store, you could also use crumbles of goat cheese in it’s place. Even a bit of mascarpone cheese spread on the chicken topped with the warm sun-dried tomato mixture would work great.
I’m telling you, if you’d like to impress friends, a boyfriend/girlfriend, in-laws, you name it…this is a simple, yet elegant, meal that most palates would enjoy. My girls even loved the chicken. Emry ate the artichokes like candy. We’re still working on my kids loving sun-dried tomatoes as much as I do, but they at least ate them in this meal. That’s a plus.
So if you happen to have some of these lingering ingredients in your fridge, win the battle and whip up this almost 30 minute meal. It’s flavor upon flavor upon FLAVOR!
Do you enjoy grocery shopping?
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ½ cup Italian dressing
- salt and pepper for seasoning
- ½ cup white wine
- ½ cup chopped sundried tomatoes
- 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
- 5 oz. Boursin brand gournay cheese (I used garlic and herb flavor) or goat cheese (or other preferred creamy white cheese)
- Place chicken in a large ziploc bag and pour in Italian dressing. Marinate overnight or for at least 6 hours in dressing. Remove from fridge 10 minutes before ready to cook. Remove from bag and season with salt and pepper on both sides.
- In a large cast iron skillet (or 2 medium skillets), heat olive oil over medium heat. Once pan is hot enough that a drop of water sizzles, add chicken to pan. Reduce heat to just below medium (4 out of 10). Cook for 8-10 mins on each side until no longer pink in the middle.
- Remove chicken from pan and set on serving dish. Pour wine into pan and deglaze by scraping bottom of pan with spatula. Add in sundried tomatoes, artichokes, and chicken broth. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally until liquid is almost fully reduced, about 3-5 mins. Season with a few shakes of salt and pepper.
- Spoon artichoke mixture over tops of chicken breasts and crumble cheese over top. Serve warm with sides.
