Half Hour Chicken Creole

Total Time: 30 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• nonstick cooking spray
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, fat discarded,washed,dried,and cut into 1/2 inch strips
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped seeded green bell peppers
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 3 -4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves or 1 teaspoon dried basil, lightly crushed,more to taste
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, lightly crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
• fresh ground black pepper

Recipe

• 1 spray deep skillet with nonstick spray.
• 2 preheat pan over high heat.
• 3 add olive oil, add chicken, and cook for 3-5 minutes, until lightly browned and no longer pink, stirring regularly.
• 4 reduce heat to medium.
• 5 add green pepper, celery, onion, green onion, garlic, parsley, basil, thyme, and bay leaves.
• 6 saute about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
• 7 add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, cayenne, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
• 8 bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• 9 fish out bay leaves, and serve over hot cooked rice or pasta.
• 10 variation: we have also tried this using shrimp instead of chicken.
• 11 the recipe is the same, except replace chicken with 1-1/2 pounds unpeeled raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut in half lengthwise.
• 12 reduce initial browning time from 3-5 minutes to 2-3 minutes, or the shrimp will get tough.