Two Recipes with Sun Dried Tomatoes & Marinated Artichoke Hearts

My Number One Fan deserves all the credit for these two outstanding recipes.  She did them just a couple of weeks apart, which fascinated me.  To be able to take two really good ingredients and combine them in different ways and with different meats was just brilliant!  And delicious!

In this post, you will get two recipes made with the titular ingredients:  Crock Pot Chicken Thighs with Artichokes & Sun Dried Tomatoes, and Italian Pot Roast.  Buy the artichoke hearts that are in a jar or a can, but not marinating in oil.  Number One used a 14 oz can of Progresso.  Buy sun dried tomatoes that are, in fact, dry - not the kind where the sun dried tomatoes have been put in olive oil.

Crock Pot Chicken Thighs with Artichokes & Sun Dried Tomatoes

This recipe is just simple as hell.  My Number One Fan likes simplicity and is a big fan of crock pot cooking.  This recipe came from the diethood.com website and was modified very little.  The only thing I might do differently is toss in a good splash of white wine.  You can make this recipe with chicken breasts, too, and skinless chicken thighs if you wish, but they probably need less cooking.  The great thing about a crock pot is that rarely is it possible to overcook something in it.

Ingredients
6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 14 oz can artichoke hearts in liquid (not oil)
3 oz sun dried tomatoes, cut in Julienne strips
3 tsp garlic
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
3 tbsp dried parsley or fresh basil
dash salt & pepper
non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)

The Recipe:
Season chicken thighs with salt, pepper and oregano.  Spray the crock pot with non-stick cooking spray, then place the chicken thighs into the pot more or less in a single layer. If you think you need more liquid, as I suggested above, splash a little white wine on it, or chicken broth or plain water.

Add all remaining ingredients except the parsley or basil.  Cover a cook on high for 4 hours or low for six hours.  Finish with the parsley or fresh basil before serving.  Goes great over rice, or just as-is.

Italian Pot Roast

This recipe is adapted from the now-famous Pioneer Woman website.  I like her recipes, but I find she tends to over-complicate things.  Her recipe had you separating the liquid from the meat, refrigerating overnight, adding flour to the sauce, etc. etc.  My Number One Fan cut through all that, and just made it old fashioned pot roast style.  Put the meat and everything else in a covered dutch oven, and cook it for five to six hours.  When you're braising beef in liquid, it's pretty hard to overcook it.

Ingredients
1 3-4 lb beef chuck roast
1 14 oz can artichoke hearts in liquid (not oil)
3 oz sun dried tomatoes, cut in Julienne strips
16 oz beef stock (like, Swanson or Kitchen Basics)
1 medium yellow onion, rough chopped
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 tsp garlic
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp Italian Seasonings (or add equal parts dried oregano, basil, thyme and parsley
dash of salt & pepper

The Recipe:
Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.

Spray a dutch oven with non-stick cooking spray.  Put the beef in the pot, add all other ingredients.  Put a lid on it and cook in the oven for 5-6 hours.

Check it halfway through and add more broth or wine if more liquid is needed.

This dish was meant to be served over buttered noodles, but this would work over potatoes or rice, too.  We ate the dish in soup bowls as-is.