| | | | | Chicken Breasts in Creamy Tomato Sauce. | | Did a friend forward this to you? Sign up here. Tuesday tidbits Greetings, all. How is your week going? I'm buoyed by the fact that we're nearing the middle of January. This isn't always the case, but a lot of Januarys seems to drag on and on. To help get us through this, the longest-seeming month of winter, let's indulge a little bit. One way to do that is to make this superb recipe for dinner. These Chicken Breasts in Creamy Tomato Sauce are wonderfully rich and deeply satisfying on a chilly winter's night. They were also our most-viewed recipe of 2025. Before we start cooking, I have another list of tidbits to share. - A belated happy birthday to my son, Cyrus, who turned 2 on Jan. 10. I'm delighted to report that he's walking and talking more every day. He continues to be an absolute enchantment to me and my partner, Joe. Parenting is relentless when you don't live near family and have just a small community of friends and neighbors, but it's also remarkably rewarding. I remind myself of how lucky we are all the time.
- Speaking of enchantments, an excerpt from a recent James Clear newsletter, from the Austrian poet and playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal's 1922 book, "Buch der Freunde" ("Book of Friends"): "Where is your Self to be found? Always in the deepest enchantment that you have experienced."
- I wanted to give a shout-out to Susan Spungen's newsletter, Susanality. (I'm a free subscriber.) I've lately been inspired by her approach to winter salads. A recipe developer, cookbook author and food stylist, Spungen worked with Martha Stewart for years. I appreciate her style and sensibility when it comes to ingredient combinations, food styling and photography. In all the work that she does, she manages to combine real-world beauty and messiness, side-stepping aspirational perfection in a way that feels refreshing.
- I had never heard of Lp(a) until reading this article, but now I want to ask my doctor about it.
- I didn't watch the Golden Globes broadcast on Sunday, but clips of the speeches from Teyana Taylor and Wanda Sykes did catch my attention.
- By all accounts, 2025 was a difficult year for restaurants in the nation's capital, as my colleagues Tim Carman, Emily Heil and Warren Rojas reported recently. The industry withstood a variety of challenges, including flip-flopping changes to the tipped minimum wage, waves of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that kept many restaurant workers at home, and National Guard deployments that suppressed tourism. Meanwhile, D.C. residents cut back on dining out due to government-wide layoffs and tariff hikes. "We unfortunately haven't had a chance to plan or think ahead, because nothing has stayed the same for even a couple months at a time," Daniella Senior, the CEO and co-founder of the Colada Shop restaurants, told my colleagues. I hope 2026 brings everyone a bit more stability.
- This poem by Renée Good.
Back to the recipe: My quest to build community in my D.C. neighborhood continues this year, and having friends and acquaintances over for a home-cooked meal is among the ways I plan to nurture new relationships. My colleague Aaron Hutcherson, also a relatively recent transplant to D.C., is on the same page. "While I am fortunate to have a good number of close friends across the country, I didn't arrive with many in my new home. Making friends takes time — hundreds of hours of time spent together for an acquaintance to become a close friend, even," he wrote last year. "An easy way to accrue those hours is by doing everyday, ordinary activities together, such as sharing a meal. If you're looking to build community or deepen the relationships you already have, invite someone over for dinner and serve something simple but flavorful, like this creamy tomato chicken recipe." Aaron goes on to explain that having someone over for dinner is not necessarily equivalent to hosting a dinner party. The latter can be stressful, involving an immaculate home, pressed napkins or a labor-intensive menu. Instead, Aaron advises, take the pressure off yourself by leaving the pile of laundry in the corner and cooking something you'd make on a regular night. There's nothing more homey, welcoming and comfortable than treating your guests like family. | | | |  | Today's Recipe | | | Stirring the cream into the sauce. (Photos by Peggy Cormary/For The Washington Post; food styling by Carolyn Robb) | Chicken Breasts in Creamy Tomato Sauce Find substitution suggestions and other tips below the recipe. Storage: Refrigerate for up to 4 days. Servings: 4
Total time: 30 mins Ingredients - 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2 pounds total)
- Fine salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 medium shallots (6 ounces total), halved and thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or finely grated
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend, store-bought or homemade
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3/4 cup dry white wine, such as pinot grigio
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, for serving
- Cooked pasta, rice or other grain, for serving
Steps 1. In a large (12-inch) skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Set a large plate or platter and a lid for the skillet or sauté pan near your workspace. 2. Pat the chicken dry, sprinkle both sides with salt and black pepper, then add to the skillet and cook until golden brown on both sides, 4 to 5 minutes per side. (The chicken may not be fully cooked at this point.) Transfer the chicken to the prepared plate or platter. 3. Add the shallots to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic, Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper flakes, if using, and cook, stirring once or twice, until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds. Stir in the tomato paste until evenly incorporated. 4. Add the wine, scraping up any browned bits at the bottom of the skillet, and cook until reduced by about half, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the cream. Taste, and season the sauce with salt and black pepper, as desired. 5. Return the chicken, along with any accumulated juices, to the skillet and bring to a simmer. Partially cover the skillet with a lid, reduce the heat to medium and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast registers 165 degrees, about 5 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through. Remove from the heat. Sprinkle the chicken with parsley and serve hot with pasta, rice or another grain. From staff writer Aaron Hutcherson. Tested by Aaron Hutcherson. Nutrition information per serving (1 chicken breast with sauce): Calories: 559; Total Fat: 32 g; Saturated Fat: 16 g; Carbohydrates: 10 g; Sodium: 555 mg; Cholesterol: 212 mg; Protein: 48 g; Dietary Fiber: 2 g; Sugar: 5 g.
Substitution suggestions + other tips and ideas: - Boneless, skinless chicken breasts >> boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
- Shallots >> any type of onion.
- Italian seasoning blend >> your favorite dried herb, or a mix.
- White wine >> chicken broth or stock with a splash of vinegar or lemon juice, and a pinch of sugar.
- Heavy cream >> crème fraîche.
- Parsley >> basil.
- Want more vegetables? >> Stir spinach or chard leaves into the sauce until wilted, just before returning the chicken to the pan.
| | | | | | | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment