Healthy "Chicken, Artichoke and Cannellini Bean Spezzatino" Recipe Review

How about a bowl of hot spezzatino? Leave it to the Italians to have come up with a beautiful word for “stew.” Giada De Laurentiis, host of Giada at Home on The Food Network, and author of several best-selling cookbooks, has created a savory stew that will add some pizzazz to your winter menu.

“Chicken, Artichoke and Cannellini Bean Spezzatino” is loaded with flavor, fiber, and protein. Onions and garlic beautifully complement bite-size chunks of chicken, artichokes, carrots, and celery.

Pancetta, which is often used in Italian cooking, serves as a crispy, mildly salty garnish in this spezzatino. As a cured, pork belly meat, pancetta tastes like pork-minus the smoky flavor that American bacon possesses.

If you don’t like artichokes, try this stew. One of my anti-artichoke taste testers went back for seconds while saying, “I don’t mind the artichokes in this meal. This is delicious.”

Given that stew is typically thicker and heartier than soup, this dish doesn’t contain a large amount of broth. If you’re a soup eater who adores dipping more than one piece of bread into your bowl, you might want to add an extra can of low-sodium chicken stock to the saucepan.

This spezzatino can be ready in a little over an hour.

Why I like this recipe: It’s a wholesome meal for winter weather. This dish can be made the day before serving it to company-for lunch or dinner.

Saturated fat reduction tip: Use two pieces of pancetta instead of four. If using bacon, use two slices of a low-fat version. Either option is a delicious garnish that goes a long way in small amounts.

Grocery shopping tip: Not every supermarket sells pancetta. Bacon may be substituted. Since bacon is smoked, it will add a smoky flavor. If frozen artichokes are not an option, canned artichokes may be substituted. Rinse and drain the canned version to reduce the sodium content.

Money saving tip: Consider using 1 pound of chicken versus 1 ½ -2 pounds, followed by adding an extra can of cannellini beans to the stew. The ingredients in this recipe create a satisfying meal without the extra meat. Freeze leftover tomato paste in a quart size freezer bag or small freezer container for future use.

Ingredients: Olive oil, pancetta, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, kosher salt, ground pepper, low-sodium chicken stock, fresh basil leaves, tomato paste, dried thyme, bay leaf, skinless chicken breasts with rib meat, frozen artichokes, cannellini beans.

This delicious dish and more of Giada’s masterpieces can be found in her New York Times bestseller, Everyday Italian.

Just click on this Food Network link to see Giada’s entire recipe. Enjoy! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chicken-artichoke-and-cannellini-bean-spezzatino-recipe/index.html

Check out my recipe review for Ellie Krieger's low-fat "Oven Fried Chicken" by clicking on the following link. http://jilltravel.hubpages.com/hub/Oven-Fried-Chicken-Recipe-Review