One of my favorite things about Gourmet was that among all the recipes that were fancy, there were the ones you could cook from what was in your cabinet. For example: Baked Chicken with White Beans and Tomatoes. My parents did not know, on Saturday, that I would be cooking dinner. But when I asked, they said ok. They didn’t have time to go shopping, so the dish got hacked a little. But in the end, what’s the difference between a kidney bean and a cannelini bean? What’s the difference, really, between a can of crushed tomatoes, and stewed tomatoes with juice? In fact, what ARE stewed tomatoes?
Regardless.

Baked Chicken with White Beans and Tomatoes Chez Johnsons
via Gourmet December 2004

6 pieces of bacon
4-6 pieces bone-in, skin on dark meat chicken
1 huge shallot, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed and chopped
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can kidney beans, 1 can pinto beans

Preheat the oven to 350
Cut the bacon into roughly 1/2-inch pieces, and brown in a skillet, reserving the fat. Scoop out the bacon pieces, and brown the chicken (probably in 2 batches), which you’ve seasoned on each side with salt and pepper, about 4 minutes per side.
Remove the chicken to your casserole dish, and scoop out 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat. Pour out the rest, and wipe out the pan.
Put the bacon fat back in the pan, and saute the shallot. When it is getting soft, add the garlic. Stir and saute until the garlic starts to smell amazing. Then, add the tomatoes, and rinse and drain the beans. (If you’re using cannelini beans, that would be 2 cans of them). When the tomato liquid comes up to a simmer, stir in the bacon pieces, and the drained cannelini beans. Stir to heat the beans through, and combine with the chicken in the casserole dish.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is done.
This recipe is warm and comforting. My parents loved it, which is always nice. A major benefit is being able to check the comments on Epicurious – I knew that the dish could be kind of bland, and added some garlic as many of the commenters suggested. I also threw in a splash of white wine, even though deglazing in a nonstick pan is kind of…. silly.
And best of all, my parents had basically everything, or a reasonable facsimile of everything, in their house already. If you have any kind of pantry, you probably do too.