Weeknight Chicken with flavor?

Other than when it's roasted on the bone, I generally feel like chicken doesn't have much flavor and therefore is just a vehicle for sauce. Now, most nights, i just pan fry or bake it, and choke it down anyway. But last night, all we had was chicken, and i felt like cooking, so I scrounged around Epicurious and found a recipe from Bon Appetit 2002 that we had (most of) the ingredients for and came up with something that was actually quite tasty! It's a pretty robust flavored sauce, too, considering it's basically white wine based. Word to the wise, though, I used boullion for chicken broth and ooo eee! It was mighty salty. All in all, it took less than a half hour, too. Served it with some steamed asparagus in lemon and some crusty bread, it was quite a hit.

Theirs was an adaptation of a classic Northern Italian dish, spezzatini di pollo al pomodoro e vino bianco (chicken sautéed with tomato and white wine). Mine was an adaptation of that with whatever was in my pantry. Still tasted damn good. I don't have a photo cause it was dark, and I was hungry. But it looked pretty, too.

Chicken with Proscuitto, Rosemary, and White Wine
Makes 6 servings.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 large chicken breast halves with ribs and skin, cut crosswise in half (i just used boneless breasts, and not legs or thighs)
3 chicken drumsticks with skin
3 chicken thighs with skin
1 cup 1/4-inch cubes prosciutto (about 5 ounces) (I used some thick cut applewood bacon cause it's what I had. Prosciutto would have no doubt lent a milder flavor, but it was damn good with bacon, too. I just sliced a little bit up and proceeded like it was prosciutto.)
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary (or dried...)
1 1/4 cups dry white wine
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes with added puree (ok, so i didn't have this either so i just took a container of cherry tomatoes and squished them up, and added a smidge of tomato paste)
Fresh rosemary sprigs (yeah, right.)


Preheat oven to 325°F. Heat extra-virgin olive oil in heavy large ovenproof pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Working in 2 batches, sauté chicken until golden, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to platter. Add prosciutto, sliced garlic, and chopped rosemary to same pot. Stir 1 minute. Add dry white wine, chicken broth, and crushed tomatoes with puree. Bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Boil 5 minutes. Return chicken to pot, arranging in single layer. Return to boil. Cover pot and place in oven. Bake until chicken breasts are cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove chicken breasts. Continue baking until drumsticks and thighs are cooked through, about 10 minutes longer. Remove pot from oven. Return chicken breasts to pot. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Refrigerate uncovered until cold, then cover and keep refrigerated.)
Bring chicken mixture to simmer. Transfer chicken to platter; tent with foil. Boil until sauce is reduced to 2 cups and coats back of spoon, about 5 minutes. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken. Garnish with rosemary sprigs and serve.

Weeknight Chicken with flavor?