Some work needed

Continuing with our dinners from 1080 Recipes, last night we had an altered (influenced by) version of:

Pollo Guisado con Cebollitas y Tomate
Chicken cooked with Shallots and Tomatoes

It was altered, a few different ways, but the same general gist is there...to begin...

I browned some chicken in a pot, using equal amounts of olive oil and butter. When the chicken was browned, I removed it to a plate and added 8 shallots that I peeled and cut into large pieces. After they started to sweat I added some dried herbs; thyme, oregano, basil. Give that a minute. Add some white wine and water to make a brothy concoction.

Into the broth, I added the chicken back in; nesteling it down into the broth and shallots. On top, I added 3 tomatoes I had peeled, quartered and seeded. Cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes. Done.

I served the chicken with plain white rice.

This was good, but!

The original recipe called for chicken parts with skin and bones and fat, all very delicious, but I had chicken breasts. So, the chicken was a little blah when done.

We also were instructed to add bacon. WHAT!?? Scott didn't use bacon. True, I didn't use bacon. I figured the three meals (by the end of the week) that call for bacon were enough, I could skip bacon in this meal. So, no bacon...sad!

We were also instructed to add the ingredients in a different order, which didn't make sense to me. So I did as I described above, which worked, for the most part, but I think I'll change it up a bit in the future by adding the chicken to the shallot/wine broth, letting that simmer for 20 minutes, then adding the tomatoes and letting that go for only 10 minutes. The tomatoes virtually dissolved in broth, which is fine and tasty, but some chunks of tomato would be nice.

AND, I was also instructed to add jarred red bell peppers. I don't have those. I did have a fresh red bell pepper, but I wasn't in the mood to add it. Maybe next time?!

When all was said and done, what I made, based on the recipe was fine. Next time I will shift the order around a bit, add the tomatoes at the end. I will also try to use chicken parts and allow the whole mess to cook over lower heat for a longer time, allowing that flavorful broth to infuse itself in the chicken parts.

Ingredients for this version:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, split into two pieces each-four pieces total
2 TB olive oil
2 TB butter
8 shallots, peeled and cut into large pieces
1/2 tsp each: dried thyme, oregano and basil
Salt/Pepper to season to taste
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup water
3 medium tomatoes, peeled, quarted and seeded
parsley for garnish

The steps are described above.