French Chicken Provençale

I am cooking up a batch of this scrumptious chicken for our dinner tonight.  This is, bar none, our all-time favorite chicken dish.  This family favorite is Atkins friendly, so I hope all my Atkins followers enjoy this one.  Omit the wine if you’re still on Induction.  It won’t be quite as good without the wine, but acceptable. 🙂 This dish is always a hit with company and really pretty simple to make.  I actually won the Galveston Daily News Holiday Recipe Contest with this recipe back in the 80’s.  You can actually make this dish ahead of time and just add the bell pepper and tomatoes for a brief simmer after guests arrive, thickening the sauce at the very last minute.  When I have company, I usually just use a whole cut-up chicken, minus the back, which I boil for chicken stock for my freezer.

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INGREDIENTS:

2  extra-large chicken breasts, skin on (cut into 4 servings)  (or 4 serving any pieces you like)

4 slices of chopped bacon or dry-cured Country Ham, cut into 1″ pieces  

1/2 c. chopped onion

4 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms

2 lg. cloves minced garlic

1.5 c. chicken broth or water

1/4 c. dry white wine (omit if still on Atkins Induction)

1/4 tsp. dried thyme

1 small bay leaf

1/2 c. green bell pepper cut into strips

4 plum tomatoes cut into large wedges.

2 T. butter blended with 1 T. oat fiber or 1/8 tsp. xanthan gum

DIRECTIONS:  Brown the chicken in a skillet heated up with 1/4 c. olive or coconut oil.  When both sides are nicely browned, remove chicken pieces from the skillet to a platter.  Brown the bacon, onion, mushrooms and garlic in the same skillet in the same drippings. If using Country ham, soak an hour in warm water to remove excess salt before chopping & browning.   When veggies are tender, add chicken pieces back to the skillet, skin-side up.  Add water, wine, thyme and bay leaf.  Cover and simmer 30 minutes until chicken is done and veggies are tender.

Finally, the last 4-5 minutes of cooking, and right right before you plan to serve, add the bell pepper and tomato wedges.  Cook another 3-4 minutes only, as you don’t want the peppers to lose their pretty green color. You want the tomato wedges slightly softened but not falling apart.  The bacon/ham usually makes this dish salty enough without extra salt.  Thicken with 2 T. butter that has been blended with 1 T. oat fiber or 1/8 tsp. xanthan gum.  Stir in and simmer for 1-2 more minutes.  Dip chicken onto serving platter and ladle the sauce over the meat.

I serve this over a generous helping of buttery Mashed Cauliflower.  In my pre-low-carb days, this dish was served over now-verboten mashed potatoes. 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:   Makes 4 servings of 4 oz. meat each

Each serving has 504 calories, 33.3 g fat, 8 g carbs, 1.9 g fiber, 40 g protein, 6.1 g NET CARBS