Chicken al Giardino

Tonight, dinner is one of my all-time favorite, go-to recipes. I cut this out of the Seattle Times years ago, when John Hinterberger was still the food writer. It falls into my category of "superb."

Chicken al Giardino

2 large skinless and boneless chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 green bell pepper, seeded, cut into thin strips

1/2 red bell pepper, seeded, cut into thin strips

1/4 cup thinly sliced onion

1 tablespoon rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced

6 pieces quartered artichoke hearts (packed in water)

1/4 cup dry sherry

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

1 tablespoon cold butter, cut into pieces

Place the chicken breasts between sheets of plastic wrap and pound gently with the smooth side of a meat tenderizer until 1/4 inch thick. Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the chicken and sauté for 3 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan. Add the bell peppers, onions, sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts. Sauté over medium heat 10 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Pour in the sherry and reduce by one-third. Add lemon juice and adjust seasonings if necessary. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the butter, stirring until the sauce has thickened. Put the chicken back into the pan and heat through and serve.

Donna's notes on this recipe: It is important to have all ingredients ready before beginning to prepare this. I usually use cooking sherry, but you can buy airline-size bottles of liquor at the liquor store to use for cooking purposes. I don't usually use chicken breasts, because my husband prefers thighs, but either will work just fine. I don't pound them to make them thinner, but that means that I sometimes need to sauté them for longer than 3 minutes. My stove gets quite hot, so I usually sauté on low. I also don't usually sauté the veggies for 10 minutes, because we like them slightly crisp. This is a very forgiving recipe, so you can add other veggies, or leave some of these out, as you need to.