Grecian Chicken

This recipe is from my well-thumbed paperback copy of the Whole Earth Cookbook published in 1972, a time when cooking with natural and whole food ingredients was first coming into vogue. But this was certainly not a vegetarian cookbook; it lists a number of meat dishes such as this one. I have used this recipe for years; the combination of tomato sauce, cinnamon, and black olives is classic Greek cuisine, very satisfying. I always remove and discard as much chicken skin and fat as I can before cooking to reduce fat calories.

4 servings.

Ingredients:

I medium chicken, cut up and skinned, or 2-3 lbs of chicken parts with bone

2 tbsp canola or olive oil

2 cups tomato sauce

½ cup sliced black olives without pits

2 tsp cinnamon

• Heat oven to 325 oF

• Brown chicken in a heavy skillet, pepper to taste

• Mix tomato sauce, olives and cinnamon in a bowl

• Put chicken in a 4-qt oven-proof casserole dish and pour the tomato mixture over it

• Cook at 325 oF for 1 ½ to 2 hours, turning chicken occasionally.

• Done when meat falls from the bones

Serve with baguette or pasta

Notes: can use boneless chicken breast instead of bone-in chicken; whole black olives with pits; can reduce olive oil to 1 tbsp; use homemade or low salt tomato sauce to reduce salt content.