Tomato Sauce Chicken and TIP

Tomato Sauce Chicken

2 ½ tablespoons canola oil

6 boneless skinless chicken tenders

salt and pepper

1 thick slice bacon cut crosswise into ¼ inch strips

1 ½ tablespoons all purpose flour

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove thinly sliced

1 large tomato chopped

1 teaspoon tomato paste

1 cup milk

¼ cup low-sodium chicken broth

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 375

Cook the bacon per package instructions on the stove.  Put aside.

In a skillet heat 1 tablespoon of the oil

 Add chicken to
pan

Cook over moderately high heat until browned all over, 8
minutes

Transfer chicken and bacon to a Pyrex dish.

Put the Pyrex dish into the oven and cook for 20 minutes.

Drain off the fat from the bacon and using that skillet
(also used for the chicken) add the following:

-Add remaining 1 ½ tablespoons of oil to skillet and stir in
the flour until incorporated.

After adding flour - the trick is to always keep stirring - this is roux based sauce.

-Add onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring
until slightly softened 3 minutes.

-Add tomato and tomato paste and cook, stirring until tomato
softens slightly, 5 minutes.

Have a little fun with the stirring, show that it's made with love :)

-Add salt and pepper to taste, continue stirring

-Add milk and broth and bring to a boil, stirring until
slightly thickened, 3 minutes.

- Add parsley

By this time the chicken should be finished cooking – add the
sauce into the Pyrex dish and place back into the oven for another 5 minutes to
blend the flavors.

My husband gave it a solid 7.5 out of 10.  He said, "It's not an IN YOUR FACE flavor.  It's subtle, but good."  He said I could have gone with more salt, but then I'm not heavy handed with salt by nature, so that's not surprising.  It's not hard to make, especially with one of the tips I learned from the cooking class.

TIP:  

Cut a bunch of onions - put in small ziplock freezer bags, label it and freeze it.

Cut a bunch of garlic - put in small ziplock freezer bags, label it and freeze it.

Cut a bunch of parsley - put in small ziplock freezer bags, label it and freeze it.

You get the picture - if you have all the prep work done, it's just a matter of taking it out of the freezer and tossing it into the dish!  It's great because the only thing I had to chop was the tomato - easy!