Artichoke Chicken Recipe

Last week I had a pack of chicken breasts, and was tired of my same old recipes. So I asked my pals on Twitter if they had any suggestions for a yummy and quick chicken recipe. I got lots of responses, but one suggestion stuck out in my mind. Mrs. Jetplane told me about a yummy recipe from a fellow military wife called Artichoke Chicken.

I wasn't able to get a detailed recipe because of our "140 character" limit on Twitter messages. But the overall idea for the recipe included chicken, mushrooms, artichokes, sherry, sour cream, and Parmesan cheese. How can you go wrong with cheese and sour cream? I looked online and saw several variations of what Mrs. Jetplane was talking about, combined what I thought looked good, and here's what I came up with.

Artichoke Chicken

*Disclaimer: This is my last minute version of this recipe,

so measurements may not be exact.

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (almost 2 lbs.)

(My grocer has packages of "tenderized" chicken). Just ask the butcher to run your meat through the tenderizer a couple of times. I do this with my beef too for country-fried steak.

• 1 small onion or 3/4 to 1 cup diced yellow onion
• 1 (15 oz.) can of artichokes, drained and chopped
• 1 tablespoon cooking sherry
• 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup Panko Japanese-style bread crumbs (for topping)
• salt to taste

*In some of the recipes I saw online, the chicken breasts were put in the oven raw. The first time I made this dish, I found the chicken made the dish "watery" and made it hard for the artichoke mixture to thicken. The second time I made this, I sautéed the chicken in a pan before putting the artichoke mixture on top. This also saves time cooking. While the chicken was cooking, I mixed together the rest of the ingredients. Super quick!

I think this would be a good crock pot recipe. I'd just leave the Panko off the top.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a large glass baking dish with nonstick spray and set aside.
2. Mix together the artichokes and rest of ingredients, except the Panko breadcrumbs.
3. Salt the chicken breasts and sauté in a pan sprayed with nonstick spray. Cook until done, but not browned.
4. Put chicken breasts in glass baking dish. They can overlap.
   
5. Spread artichoke mixture over chicken breasts. *Warning* This dish ain't purdy.
   
6. Bake uncovered 30-45 minutes or until artichoke mixture is bubbly, thickened, and starting to brown slightly.
7. Turn oven on broil.
8. Take chicken out and sprinkle the top with the Panko crumbs. I added this because I thought it would a nice crunch to the chicken.
9. Put chicken back in oven and brown the Panko. This is important.....don't walk away during this step. The Panko crumbs will brown very quickly. The top can burn...I'm telling you stay right there. Trust me on this;-)
10. Take out and enjoy! *My husband didn't get the memo about needing a pretty picture of the finished chicken for the blog. He jumped in and got a plate before I got back with the camera. Those men and their hunger!

I'm going to add mushrooms next time. We ate ours with rice and green beans.

Doc Lancelot came home and said, "Something smells W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L! He liked it so much that I made it again the next night. He requested that I double the "sauce". I did, and thought it was a little too much...but would be the right amount for (6) chicken breasts. If you like artichoke dip, then you'll love this!