Chicken Breast Recipes
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once said “A great meal without a sauce is like a beautiful woman without clothes. It can provoke and satisfy the appetite, but it lacks the coating of civilization that would arouse our fullest interest.” Given our rushed and hectic lives one of the first things to go in our cooking was the sauce. Who has the time? But as Brillat-Savarin also said, “A sauce can cover a multitude of sins.” A sauce can help a dish a lot. And they don’t have to be complicated. Of all the foods in the world that need a sauce, it is the chicken breast recipes that need it most.
Without a sauce, a chicken breast may border on, or surely be, just plain boring. In this case, I don’t mean barbecue sauce. I have no problem with barbecue chicken, per se, but it just never agrees with me. I know it is not the sauce, as I love BBQ sauces of all stripes. And I know it is not chicken because I have eaten plenty of it without issue. There is something about how chicken, BBQ sauce and, usually a grill, come together to form some kind of negative culinary force in my body. I just can’t do BBQ chicken any longer.
The sauces I think of when I think of chicken breast recipes are slightly more traditional, but very easy to achieve. Pan sauces are simple to make and you should not be intimidated. It adds up to this…
- Meat Or Vegetable is Cooked In A Pan.
- Onion, Garlic Or Other Goodies Are Added.
- A Liquid (like Wine Or Cognac) Is Added And The Tasty Bits From Cooking The Meat Or Vegetable Are Scraped Up From The Bottom – Called De-Glasing.
- Vegetable, Chicken, Beef or Other Stock Is Added To The Pan And Reduced Until Thick.
- Dairy Is Added – Cream, Butter Or Even Creme Fraiche To Give The Sauce Some Luxuriousness.
- Fresh Herbs Are Added
- 2 whole boneless chicken breasts with skin on
- 1 small sweet onion
- 1/2 lb of white mushrooms
- 1 cup of white wine
- 1 cup of chicken stock
- 1 small bunch of basil
- cream
- salt and pepper
- Pre-heat the oven to 400F.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- In an oven safe, cold pan lay the chicken skin side down.
- Place the pan on the stove and turn the heat to medium-low.
- Allow the the pan to slowly heat up. The fat will slowly render and the chicken skin will become golden brown and crispy.
- Flip the chicken breast.
- Place the pan into the oven and let cook until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the breast reaches 165F.
- Remove the pan from the oven.
- Transfer the chicken breast to a cutting board and let rest 5-10 minutes.
- Dice the onion finely.
- Clean, trim and slice the mushrooms.
- Clean and dry the basil. Finely chop the basil.
- Using the same pan the chicken was cooked in, discard all but a tablespoon of fat from the pan.
- Place the pan over medium heat and add the onion. Cook until the onion is soft.
- Add the mushrooms and brown them.
- Once the mushrooms are brown, add the white wine and bring to a simmer reducing by 3/4. Make sure to scrape up any bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the chicken stock and reduce again by 3/4.
- Add a tablespoon of cream or more to taste. Allow it to come back to a simmer for 1 minute.
- Season with basil, salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the chicken breast hot, spooning the sauce over the meat.
- This dish is very nice with served with rice or other grain.
I hope you enjoy.
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What are some of your favorite chicken breast recipes? Care to share? Let us know all about it in the comments or on Facebook.
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