recipe: italian tomato chicken

when the rest of the family arrived home after a year of staying in US, i surrendered my reign of the kitchen back to my mom. i've also been too busy with work so i haven't done much cooking since then. on the rare times that i took charge of the kitchen since mom reigned over, my cooking has always been a flop. my brother even commented that i'm losing my cooking powers already.

i can't begin to tell you how i've really missed this hobby of mine. i've been buying yummy magazine every month ever since it's first issue and i was hoping that i'd get to prepare one of the recipes found in them if not every week, then every month at least. looking at those stack of magazines in my room leaves me with a frustrated feeling inside because i've never tried any of the dishes yet. aside from my lack of time, i know that if ever it turns out to be a disaster, it will be a total waste of time, money and energy to buy ingredients and cook. but then i realized that practice makes perfect. i've been a good cook before so i know that all i need is to take action.

starting last week, i've put myself in charge of the kitchen every weekend. so far, i think my powers are coming back because i see the satisfied faces of my family and no nasty remarks on the side.

for lunch today, i did my first dish from the yummy magazine, the italian tomato chicken. i couldn't find some of the ingredients (oregano & enoki mushrooms) so i tweaked the recipe a little.

ingredients: 1 pack magnolia chicken breast fillet, flour, 1 400g can crushed tomatoes, 1 small can of sliced button mushrooms, 2 tbsp tomato paste, minced garlic, chopped fresh parsley, chicken broth or 1/2 chicken cube dissolved in water.

procedure: season the chicken with salt and pepper. coat the chicken with flour then fry. set aside. saute garlic in pan then add the crushed tomato, tomato paste, parsley and chicken broth. it's not in the recipe but i sprinkled the sauce with a little italian seasoning for more flavor. if you don't want the recipe to be too sour, add about 2 tsp of sugar. simmer for 10 minutes. add the chicken and mushrooms, season with salt and pepper to taste. simmer for another few minutes then serve.