A delicious, home-made dinner with minimum fuss: Marry me chicken for Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is this week. It falls on a Wednesday, the busiest of days, bang in the middle of the week. So all the more reason for an easy dinner that will please everyone. Even if you do have a restaurant booked for the weekend, it is still lovely to cook something special at home. I always like to include my kids too, making special placemats or name tags for the table settings.

This dish is such a winner for so many reasons. First off, it is chicken, ever popular and so convenient. I always find chicken breast less flavourful than the brown meat though, so we are adding all sorts of lovely things to really provide oomph. Sun-dried tomatoes, Italian herbs, cream and Parmesan go into this one. You can almost smell the thick sauce bubbling. My children love pizza and love carbonara sauce so this was a hit with them. No wonder it is called marry me chicken. The internet is full of creatively named recipes. Not all are as romantic though; “widow-maker soup” and “divorce chicken” have also been created. It turns out there is a poultry recipe for every stage of life.

To make this a one-pan dinner, simply add some sun-dried tomato stuffed tortellini when the chicken is returned to the pan so it can all simmer and cook together. You could also fold through fresh egg pasta or cooked butter beans. This dish is lovely brought to the table in the pan, with a big green salad and a bowl of mashed potato or pasta. A delicious, home-made dinner with minimum fuss for the ones you love.

Recipe: Marry me chicken

Lilly’s kitchen tips:

1. Use the oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes in place of the regular olive oil for even more flavour in this dish. It is also great for salad dressings or marinades.
2. I sometimes add a handful of black olives to this dish too. It gives a great pop of dramatic colour and great flavour, of course. Just remember to add less salt when seasoning if using brined olives.
3. Fold through some baby spinach, blanched broccoli or green beans to increase the vegetables in this dish. Keep in mind that frozen veg are incredibly convenient and often even more nutritious than fresh as they are frozen at their peak.