Winner, Winner ?Bad-Ass? Chicken Dinner

Recently Josh (the boyfriend) asked me how we could incorporate more wraps and pitas into our diet (probably feeling sick of our usual taco shells and sub buns). While grocery shopping we decided to pick up some chicken and veggies to make pita pockets based on one of our standbys of sauteed chicken, onions and peppers with provolone.

This dinner morphed into something interesting, with a Mexican twist of all things. Check out what we came up with that was deemed “Winner, winner bad-ass chicken dinner”.

Winner, winner bad-ass chicken dinner

Makes 4 pita pockets

Ingredients:

2 large whole grain pitas, cut in half to make 4 pockets

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup diced tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes because they’re the only sweet kind available in November!)

1 medium yellow onion, sliced

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1/2 jar of Frontera Red Chile & Roasted Garlic cooking sauce (usually available at Whole Foods, this product is from Chicago Chef Rick Bayless, owner of Topolobampo, Frontera Grill, and XOCO)

3 tbsp olive oil

4 slices provolone cheese

1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders, cut into bite-sized pieces

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp sour cream (optional)

To Make:

In a large skillet, add 2 tbsp olive oil and soften pepper and onion over medium heat. Add garlic when onion is translucent, continuing to cook for 2 minutes, making sure to stir often to avoid burning garlic.

Remove cooked mixture from skillet and set to side. Add remaining tablespoon of olive oil and chicken breast to skillet, browning on all sides over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper, and add cooked  pepper and onion mixture back to skillet, stirring to combine. Stir in 1/2 jar of sauce and reduce heat to low, allowing the sauce to simmer for 5 minutes, or until sauce is reduced and mixture is no longer runny. Check now for tasting – add any salt, pepper, etc. here (I added some red chili flakes at this point to up the heat).

While sauce is reducing, place one slice of provolone cheese in each pita pocket (now is also time to spread the sour cream in each pita -  if you have chosen to incorporate). After sauce is thickened, distribute the chicken mixture into each of the four pita pockets, top with diced tomatoes and enjoy!

Wrap each pocket with foil for easier eating as this meal can get messy quickly. (The bottoms of our pitas started to give way under the sauce and the foil was definitely helpful!)

You can also choose to garnish with a little sour cream, fresh cilantro or queso fresco. Mine were garnished with a little sheep’s milk Romano that I had left over in the fridge (which was amazing).