CHICKEN IN CREAMY GARLIC AND SHERRY SAUCE

CHICKEN IN CREAMY GARLIC CHICKEN AND SHERRY SAUCE.- Here's a quick and easy dish for an everyday dinner that tastes and looks like a special date. Not too many ingredients but it delivers a lot of flavor that everyone will love.

A very flexible recipe you can adapt to your family's tastes, while the recipe calls for sun dried tomatoes, these can easily be left out and substituted for other veggies, like: mushrooms, artichoke hearts, asparagus spears, green beans, spinach, peas, carrots, you get the idea right? I've also used pork, beef or any other protein you have since you can either add it at the last minute or use the sauce as a topping.

To make this dish you will need:

1 whole chicken cut-up -or- chicken breasts, either de-boned or not, chicken thighs, etc.
(I used a 3 lbs whole chicken, de-boned the breasts which I cut in half to make them thinner, de-boned the thighs for easier eating too)
2 Tbls Olive Oil or Butter-Oil mix
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 cup Chicken Stock, fresh is best
6-8 Garlic Cloves, peeled and smashed then diced fine (you could use 1-2 tsp Garlic Powder)
1/4 - 1/3 cup Sherry or your favorite cooking wine
1 Tbls Oregano Leaves, fresh, chopped (you can use dried)
1 Tbls Basil Leaves, fresh, chopped(you can use dried)
1/2 cup Parmigano Reggiano Cheese, shredded
1 cup Spinach Leaves, chopped
1/2 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes
1 cup All Purpose Flour
Salt and Pepper to taste

I added the salt and pepper to the flour and dredged the chicken through it, shook off any excess while I heated up a large pan with the Olive Oil / Butter Mix. Once hot, I cooked the chicken on each side until it was no longer pink and was golden brown. I put the cooked chicken on a plate, cover with foil to keep warm, while I finished all of the chicken. If the pan seems dry, you can add more oil / butter.

Now add the chopped garlic and let it cook for about 1 minute, (if you're using dry spices then go ahead and add them with the garlic so they will release their oils first, otherwise hold on to the fresh spices for a minute).

Add the heavy cream, chicken stock, sherry, the herbs and the cheese, whisk over medium-high heat until the sauce starts to thicken. Once the sauce is thicker you add the spinach and sun dried tomatoes until they start to wilt for a little while.The sauce is done.

At this point you can add the chicken and bring the whole thing together -or- leave it separate and use the sauce as a topping if say, you will be putting along with pasta. You can also put cooked pasta in a bowl with 1-2 Tbls pasta water, add some of the sauce and toss it together, top with the chicken.

NOTE: If you're adding uncooked veggies then you can add them when you added the chicken stock, but if you're using pre-cooked veggies then just add them along with the spinach so they all warm up together.

Notice I only used salt and pepper for the flour but you don't have to use it at all, it works fine without the dredging at the beginning. I'm not salty at all so my guys add salt if they feel they need it but you'll see this recipe really doesn't need the addition.

This recipe is easy to double in case you're feeding a larger crowd or want to make extra to save for lunches or for freezing for a later date.

Hope you will enjoy this very easy dish. Enjoy!

I had made Sweet Red Pepper Rice already which is what I used with this, but pasta is amazing with this recipe too or just serve the chicken with the sauce as is. Once you make this you'll see how many variations you can make to this.....