Bitter Garlic and Tomato Chicken

I recently was given a copy of the Times International Cookbook, and for those of you who don't know, it is kind of hilarious. Just leafing through it there are all sorts of writing quirks and various hints that it was, in fact, written in the '70s. Most of the recipes have specific serving sizes (you know, "Serves 4-6 people" and the like), but some of the ones in the "China" section just go with "Serves any number of people. Within reason." Also, based on a very unscientific counting, I'm guessing that at least half of all of the recipes call for 2 tablespoons of warm cognac.

Anyway, today's dinner isn't from that cookbook, but I'm sure some some of the upcoming ones will be. Today I went with a simple chicken dish. Start things off by cooking 7 teaspoons of garlic (a terrifying amount) over medium heat in 1/4 cup olive oil until it is brown (but not burned). Add 1.75 cups of diced tomatoes, turn heat up to medium-high, and cook for 15 minutes, until the tomatoes start breaking down. Stir in 1 teaspoon each salt, pepper, and cilantro (the recipe called for parsley...thank you, herb substitution guide).

Cut up 1.5 pounds of chicken breasts into thigh-sized pieces (speaking of being off-recipe, it called for thighs, and I went to the supermarket, bought chicken thighs, and put them in the fridge. Somehow, between then and now, the thighs mysteriously turned themselves into breasts. I'm almost positive that I didn't actually buy the wrong thing, so it's quite amazing that the chicken was able to do that). Add them to the sauce, and cook until down (~10 minutes). Serve over basmati, and enjoy.

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Well, my phone's camera is still broken, and while I'm sure my homages to Dads MSPaint skills will continue  some other week, this week I've just spent far  too much time creating and editing figures for papers and presentations to get really excited about drawing lots of little grains of rice mixed in among the chicken and tomato.

Still, at least that means that the Science is going well these days -- the Society of Rheology meeting is one week away; woo...Cleveland! But no, it should be fun.
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Verdict: Delicious. Actually, I think I made one mistake with this recipe... I didn't strain out the tomato seeds before adding the tomatoes to the garlic, and think the bitterness of the seeds muddied the supposed bitterness of the browned garlic. Still, this was a meal that combined three of my favorite food groups: carbs, garlic,  and tomato, so it couldn't really lose.