Day 166: I Hate When That Happens

I assure you that this meal is approximately 1 billion times tastier than it looks.  That kind of bums me out.  Anyone know of any good food plating or food styling classes in the Bay Area?

This is actually a dish that I used to make quite often but for some reason, it fell out of my mental recipe box some time ago.  It's easy, delicious, pretty healthy, and great on a cold winter night.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 links of uncooked spicy turkey sausage, meat removed from casing

1 medium/large zucchini, sliced into 1/2 inch thick half moons

1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips

1/2 onion, sliced thin

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 T chopped fresh oregano

.5 to 1 cup chicken broth

1 can chopped tomatoes, NOT drained

Heat a stainless steel pan coated with olive oil over medium high heat.  Once hot, add chicken breasts and brown on both sides.  Remove chicken and set aside.  Pour off most of oil from pan.

Pour about 1/4 cup of chicken broth and deglaze the pan.  Add crumbled bits of the sausage to the pan and brown.  When nearly done, add garlic, onion, zucchini, pepper, and oregano and continue to cook, mixing from time to time.  If pan is getting too dry, add a few more drops of broth.

Once all veggies are beginning to get soft, add canned tomatoes and another 1/4 cup of broth and mix.  Push veggies away from middle of pan and return chicken to the pan.  Once chicken has been added to pan, cover and surround it with the veggies.  Simmer for another 10-15 minutes, adding more broth if the liquid seems to be reducing too quickly.

Remove chicken and veggies from pot and reduce sauce by simmering on medium-high heat for a couple of minutes.  Drizzle over the top.

We had some leftover cooked whole wheat pasta from earlier in the week.  We added that to the sauce while it was simmering until it was cooked through.  I hadn't ever done this before, but it added a nice extra dimension to the dish.

So, despite an ugly presentation, this was a tasty meal indeed.  Any tips to make it as pretty as it is tasty are welcome!