"Let's Eat!" » Chicken

Chicken Marsala

Robert — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:03:42 +0000

This simple yet delicious recipe will make your dinner guest crave more. As a side I serve this with angel hair pasta aglio e l’olio (garlic/olive oil).

You will need:
Boneless/skinless chicken breast – approximately 6 ounces/person
Flour
Salt/pepper
Olive Oil – approx. 1 TBS/serving
Butter – approx. 1 TBS/serving
Mushrooms – white button or crimini (sliced)- approx. 2 oz/serving
Chicken broth – approx. 1/4 cup/serving
Marsala wine – good quality approx. 2 TBS/serving

Heat oven to 350° F. Place butter and olive oil in a sauté pan large enough to hold breasts without crowding, heat until butter melts. Dust chicken breasts with flour, pat off excess. Place breasts in sauté pan, presentation side down, sauté until a rich brown crust develops, turn breasts over and sauté until other side develops the same crust. Move breasts to a cookie sheet or oven proof pan to finish (internal temperature should read 160° F (time will be decided by the thickness of the breast pieces).
If there is not enough oil/butter left in the pan add another tablespoon of each. Add cut mushrooms with approximately one tablespoon of flour to skillet and cook until browned and somewhat dry. Add Marsala wine and cook until wine is reduced by at least half, add chicken broth and continue to cook until reduced by half. At this stage season with salt and pepper to taste.
Remove chicken from oven and add to the sauce, cover and simmer for approximately five minutes. Place breast on a serving platter and cover with sauce. Garnish with some parsley.

Chicken Provençal* with Rice Mélange

Robert — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:34:55 +0000

My version of a classic French sauce that can be used on either chicken or a firm white fish such as cod. The preparation time is relatively short and can be frozen for future use.

You will need:
Boneless skinless chicken breast* – approx. 6 oz./person
Red bell pepper
Onion (sweet such as Walla Walla)
Canned diced tomato
Capers
Black olives, pitted
Fresh Rosemary, thyme and parsley
Unbleached flour
Salt/Pepper
Olive Oil

Cut pepper and onion in half. Remove seed and core from pepper and skin and both ends from onion. Slice onion, pepper and olives very thin (Julienne in cooking terms), set aside. Drain tomatoes in a sieve reserve liquid. Tie fresh herbs into a bundle and place into a sauce pot with reserved tomato juice. Bring juice/herb mixture to a slow boil – remove herbs. Add onion and pepper to pot and cook until both are soft. If there is not enough liquid you can add water or dry white wine so that the liquid covers the vegetables. Add diced tomato, capers and olives to pot, cover and simmer for approximately ten minutes, keep warm.

Heat oven to 350°. Place flour in a receptacle, pat chicken* dry, dredge in flour and pat off excess. In a sauté pan, large enough to hold chicken* without crowding, heat one teaspoon/breast of olive oil, sear chicken until just browned on both sides, put in oven to finish cooking until internal temperature is 160°.

Remove chicken from oven spoon approximately 1/4 cup of sauce on each breast cover pan and let it rest for approximately ten minutes. The heat from the pan along with the sauce will finish the chicken. Serve with Rice Mélange.

Rice Mélange

For this recipe I used Rice Select Royal Blend. It is equal parts Texmati white, brown, red and wild rices.
Finally chop herbs used in the chicken recipe. Cook rice according to package directions. When rice is cooked stir in herbs with a little butter. As an alternative you can purchase individual packages of these or other rices to make your own unique side dish.

*Fresh Cod or other firm white fish can be substituted in place of the chicken.

Cognac Orange Glaze

Robert — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:59:57 +0000

This is a very simply prepared glaze that can be used on Ham, Chicken or Pork. The total cooking time is less than 10 minutes.

You will need:

Cognac (I used Hennessey VS) 2 TBS
Orange Marmalade (I used Smuckers Simply Fruit) 1 cup
Honey/Dijon Mustard (I used Plochman’s) 2 TBS + 1 tsp
Habanero Pepper 1/2 with seeds (cut pepper in half lengthwise

In a small sauce pot add cognac and habanero pepper bring to a boil to cook off alcohol. Add marmalade and honey/mustard. Turn heat down so that glaze just simmers, put on lid and cook for 5 minutes. Remove habanero pepper. As an alternative you can omit the pepper or use milder Jalapeno pepper. The glaze can be made ahead and reheated when needed. Brush glaze on ham, pork or chicken and roast as you would normally. You can re-glaze the meat half way through cooking time to enhance the flavor.

Chicken Saltimbocca*

Robert — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:16:51 +0000

I took the classic Veal Saltimbocca recipe and adapted it for chicken. Unlike other Saltimbocca preparations I finely diced the sage and put it between the chicken breast and the prosciutto. Make sure that the chicken breast is butterflied and pounded to approximately 1/4″ or it will be undercooked.

You will need:
Boneless, skinless chicken breast (1 per person)
Prosciutto (one or two thin slices per chicken breast)
Fresh Sage
Unsalted butter
Olive Oil
Dry white wine ( I used an unoaked chardonnay)
Tomato Paste
Salt & Pepper
Flour

Preparation:
Place chicken breast flat side down on a clean cutting board. With a sharp boning knife carefully butterfly the breast at it’s thickest part. Place chicken breast between two lightly oiled sheets of plastic wrap and pound until it is approximately 1/4″ thick, repeat with all breasts being used. Finally chop fresh sage, chop enough to dust all breasts. The amount of sage used depends on your particular taste but beware that you can overpower the chicken if you use too much. Lightly dust the breast with flour shaking off excess flour. Sprinkle chopped sage over one side of the breast and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place prosciutto slices over chopped sage (use enough to completely cover chicken breast.

In a sauté pan large enough to hold all the breasts heat butter and olive oil. When the oil/butter starts to foam gently place chicken, prosciutto side down, into sauté pan. Sear for approximately five minutes or until you notice a change in color of the chicken around the edges. Turn chicken over and sear on second side for another five minutes. Remove chicken from pan and hold, covered on a warm plate.

Pour off any excess fat from pan and add white wine to deglaze (use about one quarter cup of white per chicken breast). Put one table spoon of tomato paste/chicken breast and swirl/stir until tomato paste dissolves and colors the wine. Drop two or three tablespoons of cold butter into wine/tomato paste combination. This procedure is called mounting the sauce. When butter is completely dissolved return chicken and any juices to the pan. Heat thoroughly (about 5 minutes). If your chicken breast is thicker than 1/4″ it will take a little longer for the chicken to cook through. You can use a meat thermometer (it should read no less than 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

I serve this with thin spaghetti with olive oil and garlic.

*Alternately you can use veal instead of chicken. Ask your butcher for veal for scallopini and follow recipe.