5:30 Challenge
5 ingredients/30 minutes
Tonight’s solution
Sauteed chicken with peppers and onions
To make the meal
Green salad
Sandra Rousseau lives in Atlanta’s Mt. Paran neighborhood, and when she sent us this recipe she told us, “I like to cook. I look at it like an art, the way you put it on the plate, the way the colors go together, it’s all a balance.”
Rousseau says she experiments a lot and that she cooks “around the globe.” She created this recipe when she wanted to experiment with jarred roasted pimentos. Chicken’s versatility made it the right choice to pair with the peppers. If you’d like to add another ingredient, mushrooms would make a great addition. Or serve the sauteed chicken over rice instead of fettuccini.
Rousseau decided to share her creation because she’s gotten some good ideas from the AJC’s Food section. “It doesn’t take a lot to fix dinner, and it can be fun, too,” she said.
Take the 5:30 Challenge. If you have a great-tasting main-dish recipe that uses no more than five ingredients and can be made in 30 minutes or less, tell us. (Salt, pepper, water and oil for greasing a pan don’t need to be included in the ingredient count.) You can also suggest a side dish if it can be made within the same time. Send recipes with your name, address and phone number to fivethirty@ajc.com.
Sauteed Chicken with Peppers and Onions
Hands on: 20 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4
The new mixed vegetable pastas aren’t a necessity here, but they’re one more way to get another vegetable serving and more fiber into your meals. Rousseau added her red pepper flakes when she sauteed her onions. Cooking them along with the other ingredients intensifies their punch, so consider your household’s preferences and add them at the time that will work best for you.
1 (12-ounce) package mixed tomato, carrot and spinach fettuccini
1 large onion, peeled, cut in half from root to stem end and then sliced lengthwise
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed, cut into diagonal strips
4 roasted peeled red peppers, cut into strips
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Cook fettuccini according to package directions. Drain and keep warm.
In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add sliced onions and saute until slightly browned, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
While onion is cooking, in a medium bowl, toss chicken strips with 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper.
When onion is removed, add 1 tablespoon olive oil to same skillet and heat until very hot. Carefully lay chicken strips in oil and saute on both sides until done, about eight minutes total. Return onions to skillet and add peppers. Toss together and cook two minutes more. Remove from heat, taste for seasoning and sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Serve over fettuccini.
Per serving: 641 calories (percent of calories from fat, 16), 45 grams protein, 94 grams carbohydrates, 6 grams fiber, 12 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 66 milligrams cholesterol, 254 milligrams sodium.
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