Rosemary-Crusted Chicken with Tomato and Chickpea Sauce

This recipe was made somewhere around when TRFD started out, but for some reason I never got around to posting it.  In an effort to keep up with my recipe backlog, here it (finally) is!

Rosemary-Crusted Chicken with Tomato and Chickpea Sauce
What You'll Need:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz. jar tomato sauce (I used Garlic and Herb style)
4 cloves garlic, roughly minced
2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp white sugar
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp olive oil

What To Do:
Heat a skillet on medium heat with the olive oil.  While it's getting hot, trim the fat from the chicken breasts and pound them so that they're approximately the same thickness. Sprinkle half of the rosemary onto the tops of the chicken breasts. Flip and repeat.

Cook the chicken for 4-6 minutes, until it gets lightly golden brown on both sides:

Remove the chicken breasts and keep them nearby on a plate.  Add your garlic to the skillet and saute until it for 1 minute (this is about when it starts to soften and brown on the edges).

Dump the sauce into the skillet, then add the cayenne pepper, sugar, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, giving it a good stir to mix in all the spices.  Return the chicken to the skillet; cook covered on medium-low heat for 10-12 minutes.

Then, add the chickpeas and cook for an additional 2 minutes (or until the chickpeas get hot).

I served this with some whole wheat penne and a side of mixed veggies and potatoes.

This was good, but not fanTAStic.  The chicken seemed a little one-dimensional, even though the sauce was robust and spicy.  If you're not big on spicy foods, you can cut down on the cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes, although to my taste buds this was only moderately zippy. There was a TON of sauce + chickpeas left over, so the next night I cooked 2 more chicken breasts, but in a traditional "chicken parm" style (dipped in egg, covered with seasoned Italian breadcrumbs, cooked in garlic and olive oil).  I enjoyed this so much more the second night that I recommend using the chicken parmesan style from the outset.  Since there's no cheese in this dish (HORRORS), using the egg wash and breadcrumbs adds only a negligible amount of calories and fat.  This is a good twist on the classic dish, and the chickpeas were a pleasant but unexpected surprise.  If you decide to make this, let me know which chicken style you go with and how you like it!