French Farmhouse Chicken Stir Fry

It's very unusual to have "stir fry" and "french"  in the same realm of the cooking world.  But when you're the cook , I find it's more fun to be creative than to follow a recipe.  This is what I do!  I had a little help in the creativity department last night.  I asked my hubby what he felt like having for dinner....He actually came up with a complete descriptive menu.  Wow!  I always appreciate his input, especially this time.

His vision would consist of,  "cut the meat off the chicken thigh and make a stir fry with lots of garlic".  Serve it with rice and he's good to go!  It got slightly more elaborate as I "built" his requested meal, and I had my doubts, but the finished product was delicious!  I called it French farmhouse chicken stir fry because essentially it had all the ingredients you'd find on a French farm.  Still dreaming of that France vacation!

Ingredients:

3 thighs (you can use breast meat) skinned and cut from the bone, cut into bite size pieces

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp herbs de Provence

salt and pepper to taste

8 asparagus, cut on the diagonal into 1 inch pieces

1 cup onions, sliced 1/4 inch

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 red pepper, sliced

additional 1 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp fresh basil, cut

On medium high heat, warm the oil and brown the chicken that has been salted and peppered.  Add the herbs and  continue to cook until done. (about 15 minutes)  Remove from the skillet and set aside.

In same skillet, add additional oil, onions, asparagus and red pepper.  Stir around, reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic and basil.  Keep stirring to marry the flavors.  Add the chicken back and 1 Tbsp or pat of butter.  Mix and serve.  Serve over some nice basmati rice or noodles. 

For the vegetarians out there, you could substitute firm tofu slices or chunks.