Smothered Chicken Makeover

     A few months ago, I found a recipe for smothered chicken on another food blog with spinach and mushrooms. I made it and it was delicious, and since then, I've really wanted to share it on this site. But unfortunately, I didn't invent that version and I'm not really big on plagiarism. Plus, I haven't let myself repeat a recipe yet this summer because I need to come up with something new everyday. So when I found myself craving that old version of smothered chicken, my only option was to make up my own version. In the end, it was completely different from the version I remember, but in my not so humble opinion, it was even better. I totally just made it up as I went along, just throwing random things into the pan, but that's how great things happen.
     In this recipe, I used a couple of ingredients that were relatively unfamiliar to me. First, I used Swiss chard, which is a leafy green, larger and tastier than spinach. I highly recommend it. It just looks like big lettuce, but in the recipe, its flavor was terrific! Also, I cut up a small eggplant and added that, which also became quite flavorful. Lastly, I used fresh mushrooms, an old favorite of mine. I realize that any or all of these three ingredients may intimidate some people, but I strongly encourage you to open your mind and give them a try. You'd be amazed by how you can grow to love many of the foods you once thought you hated if you cook them the right way. Before last week, I had never tried eggplant or Swiss chard, but today I can honestly say that this is one of the best meals I've had in a while.

INGREDIENTS:
4 smallish boneless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 big bunch of fresh Swiss chard
1 small eggplant
8oz sliced fresh mushrooms
2 green onions
1-2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
2-3 tablespoons flour
a little olive oil, salt, and pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 and bake plain chicken breasts in a lightly greased dish for 20 minutes. This just gives them a head start while you prepare the veggies.
2. Wash  and chop all the veggies. Slice the eggplant 1/2 inch thick, the long way. For the Swiss chard, chop off as much of the thick red stem as you can and discard. Then, roughly chop the leaves in 1/2 inch pieces. It has a lot of volume at first, but it will cook down a lot, like spinach.

3. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and cook the eggplant first over medium heat with a little salt and pepper on top. After about 5 minutes or when they look tender, remove them from the pan temporarily.

4. Add the mushrooms, cook for 3-4 minutes, then add the green onions and garlic and continue to cook until the mushrooms shrink a little and look tender.

5. Now add the wine and broth and bring to a low boil. Add the Swiss chard, add more salt and pepper, and cover the pan for about 3 minutes to let it wilt.

Before

2 minutes later

Sufficiently wilted (excuse the steam)

6. Now that there's a little room in the pan, assess the gravy situation. Add flour and stir until slightly thickened. Then add the eggplant slices back to the pan, give it a final stir, and turn off the heat.

7. After the first 20 minutes of baking, take the chicken out of the oven. Cover it with about a cup of mozzarella. Just smother them with it!

8. Place the eggplant slices around the edges of the pan, up against the sides. Then, spoon the rest of the veggies into the middle right over the top of the chicken. Finally, top it off with about 1/2 cup of cheese and bake for 15-20 more minutes.

You'll have to dig a little to find the chicken, it's so smothered!

Doesn't that look heavenly? Told ya I'd make up for yesterday's mistakes! Just put your vegetable skepticism aside and try it!