One Skillet Chicken with Lemon Garlic Cream Sauce

Winner winner chicken dinner…. Here is winning recipe I found through Pinterest.  The original recipe is from Little Spice Jar and my husband announced I could make this recipe every week! I added extra parsley and fresh rosemary to the original.

One Skillet Chicken with Lemon Garlic Sauce

adapted from Little Spice Jar

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut in half  to 1/2 ” thickness
• salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup minced shallots
• 1/4 cup minced parsley
• 1/4 cup minced fresh rosemary
• 2 Tbsp salted butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp chopped parsley or basil, as garnish
• lemon slices, optional

Instructions:

Cut the chicken breast halves in half horizontally to make them thinner cutlet.

Season each chicken cutlet with salt and pepper on both sides.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Saute the chicken breast halves in a large stainless steel skillet over medium high heat in canola oil, for 3-4 minutes on each side.  Remove the browned chicken to a Pyrex oven safe dish. Sprinkle the chicken with 1/4 cup of minced parsley and minced fresh rosemary. Cover with foil and place in the oven.

Saute the shallots in the same skillet you used to cook the chicken for a few minutes over medium high heat.  Add minced garlic and red pepper flakes and cook another minute. Add chicken broth and lemon juice.  Stir the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or whisk to loosen the browned bits from the pan.  Bring the broth to a boil and cook reducing the liquid until about 1/3 of the sauce remains.

Turn off the heat and add butter to the sauce.  Stir and allow the butter to melt completely.  Add heavy cream and stir.  Remove the chicken cutlets from the oven and pour the sauce over the chicken.  Add sliced lemons if you desire.  Place the glass dish back in the oven to cook for an additional 8 to 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with parsley just before serving.

Serve with pasta and steamed vegetables.

Printable recipe

Butterflied Chicken with Garlic Smashed Potatoes

I love Cook’s Country Magazine and have been a faithful subscriber for nearly a decade.  In the October/November 2016 issue I found this recipe for Butterflied Chicken with Garlic Smashed Potatoes.  Just reading the recipe was an invitation to make it sooner than later.  It is a delicious chicken dish that I will serve again.  It is not hard to make – the hardest part is cutting the back bone out of the chicken (use poultry scissors).

Butterflied Chicken with Garlic Smashed Potatoes

adapted from Cook’s Country Oct/Nov 2016 issue

Serves 4 | approx. 585 calories per serving (as per fitnesspal)

Ingredients:

• 1 (4 lb- 4 1/2 lb) roasting chicken, giblets discarded
• 1 Tbsp extra- virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 2 lb Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced to 1/4 inch slices
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 2 Tbsp fresh chives (optional)

For the Parsley Sauce:

• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
• 6 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp capers, minced
• 1 small shallot, minced
• 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Place the rack in your oven to the middle position and heat the oven to 450 F.

Place the whole chicken on the cutting board breast side down.  Remove and discard the giblets.  Use poultry scissors to cut along both sides of the backbone from tail to neck and discard the backbone.  Turn the chicken breast side up.  Dry with paper towels.  Coat the chicken with one tablespoon of olive oil and season the chicken with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 a teaspoon of pepper.  Tuck the wings behind the bird.

In a 12 inch stainless steel skillet add the sliced potatoes, water, smashed garlic, 1 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.  Place the butterflied chicken on top of the bed of potatoes in the skillet.  Heat the skillet on the stove top over medium high heat until the water comes to a boil.  Turn off the burner and place the skillet in the oven.

Cook the chicken and potatoes in the oven at 450F for 1 hour, rotating the pan in the oven after 30 minutes. (Test chicken with a thermometer 160F for white meat 175F for dark- cook longer if necessary).

Meanwhile make the parsley sauce: in a small bowl, combine minced fresh parsley, olive oil, minced capers, minced shallot, lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste

Remove the skillet from the oven and place on stove-top.  Carefully lift the chicken from potatoes and place onto a cutting board to allow it to rest.  Cook the potatoes over medium high heat for 8 to 10 minutes. Spoon out any excess liquid in the skillet.   Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes and half and half.  Taste, season with salt and pepper if desired.

Serve the roasted chicken with the garlic smashed potatoes and parsley sauce.

Printable Recipe

 

Homemade Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

This past summer I visited my parents in Southern New Jersey for a few days.  They are just over half an hour from Philadelphia – home of the Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich.  I did have a great sandwich during my visit.  Upon my return to California I wanted to make it from scratch, not using the frozen minute steak product that I have used in the past.  After a quick search on the internet I discovered that the best meat to use is Rib Eye.  There is no going back!  Delicious.  The first two times I made it I completely forgot to take pictures of my sandwiches, so of course.. I had to make them again (and forgot again) and again.  I prefer them on a good crunchy French roll, but a Kaiser roll will do the job.

In order to slice the steaks paper thin, it really helps to freeze the steaks for 45 minutes before slicing them and having a nicely sharpened chefs knife will make it an easy process as well.

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 3 rib eye steaks, freeze 45 minutes before slicing super thin against the grain
• salt and pepper to taste
• sweet onion (like Maui or Walla Walla or other), sliced thinly
• bell peppers (red, green, yellow as you desire) washed, stem and seeds removed, sliced thinly
• mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thinly
• Provolone Cheese (2 slices per sandwich)
• 4 crunchy French rolls, split in half and toasted

Instructions:

Freeze the steaks for 45 minutes to help the meat become a little stiffer and easier to slice paper thin.  I remove the bone first as well as large pieces of fat before slicing.  Using a nicely sharpened knife begin cutting each steak thinly at across the grain. You want it to be as thin as possible.

Season the steak with salt and pepper.

Slice your French rolls and toast them under the broiler.

In a large non stick skillet saute the thinly sliced onions in about 1 tablespoon of canola oil.  Season the onions with salt and pepper and cook over medium  high heat until the onions have softened and caramelized.  Remove the onions to a bowl and over with foil to keep warm.  Saute the peppers next, using the same skillet.  When the peppers are softened, remove them to a second bowl.  Next, saute the mushrooms in the same skillet until they are golden brown, adding more oil if necessary and seasoning with salt and pepper.  Remove to a bowl and cover with foil.

Heat the same skillet over High- medium high heat and add 1 teaspoon of canola oil.  Add a quarter of the shaved steak to the pan and cook for 1 minute.  Stir.  Cook an additional minute or two as you desire.  Mound the steak in one area of the skillet and top  with two slices of provolone cheese.  Allow the cheese to melt.  With a spatula, carefully lift the cheese topped steak and place on the toasted roll.

Repeat with remaining steak.

I like to have each person top their cheese steak sandwiches with sauteed onions, mushrooms, or peppers as desired.

Printable Recipe