I’ve got a shiny new website, so I should post something, right?
The problem I have with blogging is that I can never think of anything to write about. Or at least, anything that anyone else would think is interesting. For want of anything better, I guess I’ll start with food. Who doesn’t like food?
Last night we had some friends over for dinner. I wanted a tasty but simple meal, one that I could fix in thirty minutes or so. So, here’s what I did.
Salad. I fixed a mixed green salad–baby spinach, radicchio, kale, leaf lettuce, and chopped green onions for the greens (even though radicchio is red). I added white grapes, dragon fruit, and crumbled prosciutto, with dressing or not at request. This is basically the salad we have every night, except we usually used cubed watermelon instead of the dragon fruit.
For the main course, I roasted red potatoes, carrots, and green beans. This didn’t take much prep time, but it did take forty minutes of roasting time. For roasted potatoes, it’s important that they be dry in order to get that nice crispy crust on the outside. It helps to add a dash of Parmesan to the olive oil, garlic, and diced onion coating…but I digress.
For the main course, I fixed chicken breasts. That can be pretty boring all by itself, but a simple sauce can really liven it up. The sauce I chose is a variation of one I learned from a food kit on Home Chef.
First, you put about 2tsp in a skillet. While it’s heating, season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper or other seasoning–I use McCormick’s Montreal Chicken seasoning. When the grill is hot–don’t put the chicken on too soon!–grill the breasts for about four minutes per side. You’ll finish cooking them after making the sauce, so don’t worry if they’re not done. The idea is to get the Maillard reaction on the meat. Those brown bits add considerable flavor.
While they grill, mix the sauce. That’s easy, and the ingredients are readily available in most grocery stories. Here’s the recipe for four medium-sized breasts.
- 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/4 cup Fig preserves
- 2 TBSP Dijon Mustard
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
If you don’t have fig preserves on hand, apricot preserves would work, too. You can just use water instead of broth if you don’t have any available. Mix these together in a small bowl. If you want to add a thickening agent–say a quarter TSP of xanthum gum–you can, but it’s probably not necessary. After the initial sear of the breasts, place them on a plate. You don’t need to wipe the pan–just add the sauce to the skillet. Stir and let it heat and reduce slightly–a minute or two tops.
Put the chicken back in the skillet and coat the breasts with the sauce. Continue to cook for a minute or two until the breasts reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
When you plate the breasts, spoon any remaining sauce over them.
The additional time to add the sauce is basically zero, since you mix it while the chicken sears. It’s well worth the effort since it turns ho-hum chicken into what looks like a fancy meal.
I would have taken a photo if I’d known I was going to write about this. Instead, here’s the picture from Home Chef. They have different vegetables, but my home-made dish looks just like this. 