Delicious Chicken Dish with Sun-dried Tomatoes: Tips for Large Crowds

[vonfirmath]

We LOVE this recipe (made with chicken to make it a main dish). The leftovers are always gone lickety-split.

But the sun-dried tomatoes in oil is a PAIN to deal with. I'm about to go the cherry tomato route instead, but was hoping someone here might have advice as to how to deal with them better?

Also, I want to make this for our family reunion, but we'll have 18 people (2 of which are toddlers) there. Will this recipe double? Or should I just make it separately twice?

 

[chefann]

One season I made this at a LOT of shows, and had a bag of sun dried tomatoes that were dry-packed. I'd put them in a measuring cup with a dash of olive oil to reconstitute them a bit, and microwave them on high for about a minute. There wasn't enough oil that they had to be dried off again, but they'd soften up some.If you want to skip the tomatoes, you can also use the jarred roasted red peppers. It's not the same flavor, but still good (and still adds a bit of color).

 

[pcsharon1]

I think that I read somewhere that you can buy a large bag of sundried tomatoes without oil at costco - they are cheaper and easier to deal with. And that will be good if you do double the recipe.

 

[esavvymom]

I always use the cherry tomatoes. I've not had any issues and actually prefer them! They have a great summery flavor to me. It's been a few weeks since I made this dish, but I just followed the recipe /tip as written with no issue. If you have a specific question- let me know...I'll hopefully remember and can answer.

 

[kam]

I used cherry tomatoes too. The sun-dried tomatoes are very expensive here - so I decided to use the cherry tomatoes instead. Had no problems using them.

 

[Jennie4PC]

I just used a tomoatoe and chopped it up, it turned out really good. My Dh loves this recipe but he says it has to many sundried tomatoes in it.

 

[vonfirmath]

Halved cherry tomatoes turn out to be too big for the size of everything else in this dish. Anyone used grape tomatoes instead? (halved). (I also had problems finding cherry tomatoes. They had Champagne, grape, strawberry, and "Campion" (or something like that). Oh and regular tomatoes and Roma of course.

 

[AJPratt]

I have got to try this one!

 

[vonfirmath]

After trying the recipe many different ways, I've determined that
1) 2 batches was more than enough for 18 people (13 adults, 2 2-year olds, 3 other children). Garlic bread and mixed vegetables on the side

2) It really does taste the best with the sun dried tomatoes. When I've tried it with tomatoes (Cherry or grape) It's just missing a tang

3) Frozen broccoli works fine