Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts in Lemon and Chive Pan Sauce

 Boneless skinless chicken breasts make frequent appearances on our dinner table, mostly because they're so versatile.They go in salads, pasta or rice dishes; they form a canvas for an array of delicious sauces.

So when Cook's Illustrated claimed they had discovered a better way to cook these babies, I was all ears. Essentially, they cooked the chicken breasts, covered, on low heat in the oven, then finished them on the stove top. And man. They were right. These were the best chicken breasts ever in the history of chicken breasts. They were meltingly tender on the inside and still crispy-seared-delicious on the outside. The Darling Devoted Husband and I were wowed. And really, I'm a pretty good chicken cooker, most of the time--I rarely serve the sort of dried-out chicken leather that makes people hate eating healthily. These were still better than anything I'd made before.

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 275 degrees. Use a fork to poke the thickest half of each of 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6-8 oz. each; trimmed of excess fat) five to six times. Sprinkle each breast evenly with about 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place skinned side down in 9x13-inch baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake:

until thickest part of the breast registers 145 to 150 degrees, 30 to 40 minutes.

Remove chicken from oven:

and transfer, skinned side up, to paper towel-lined plate and pat dry with paper towels.

Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in 12-inch skillet:

 
over medium-high heat until smoking.

While pan heats, whisk 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper:

with 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted) in small bowl. Lightly brush top side of chicken with half of butter mixture. Place chicken in skillet, coated side down, and cook until browned, 3 to 4 minutes. While chicken browns, brush with remaining butter mixture:

 Using tongs, flip chicken, reduce heat to medium, and cook until second side is browned and thickest part of breast registers 160 to 165 degrees, 3 to 4 minutes:

 Transfer chicken to large plate and let rest while preparing pan sauce (if not making pan sauce, let chicken rest 5 minutes before serving):

For the pan sauce, add 1 medium shallot, minced (about 3 tablespoons):

 to the now-empty skillet and cook over medium heat until softened, about 2 minutes:

Add 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour:

and cook, stirring constantly, 30 seconds. Add 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth:

increase heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer, scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits:

Simmer rapidly until reduced to 3/4 cup, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in any accumulated chicken juices; return to simmer and cook 30 seconds:

Off heat, whisk in 1 tablespoon juice from 1 lemon:

1 tablespoon minced fresh chives (I substituted green onion):

and 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, chilled:

season with salt and pepper:

Spoon over chicken and serve immediately.

Breakfast of Champions

The best Friday nights are followed by simple, delicious Saturday morning breakfasts.

I doubt anyone needs instructions on how to cook bacon and eggs, but here's how they happen around here:

Put some bacon in a hot pan to fry:

Meanwhile, prep and cook your eggs. I augment basic scrambled eggs (eggs over easy for the Darling Devoted Husband when I'm feeling generous and skilled, which isn't that often, and wasn't today) with whatever I have on hand. For the DDH, this usually just means cheese:

For me, this usually means cheese (obviously), but also whatever interesting vegetables we have on hand. In the summer, it's tomatoes and jalapenos every day. In the winter, the pickings are slimmer. We had some spinach that I forgot to put in a pot of soup earlier in the week, and some leftover chopped onions from the same soup:

Add a dollop of milk for fluff and mix them all together:

I decided the DDH's eggs needed more cheese on top:

And they cooked into a beautiful, cheesy, scrambled mess:

I put my eggs on, and added some of those onions I found to the bacon, 'cause why not?:

Whenever I attempt to make an omelet, I end up with scrambled eggs, but sometimes, when I try to make scrambled eggs, I end up with an omelet:

Sprinkle some more cheese on top for good measure:

And voila: Eggs and bacon, a breakfast worth waking up for:

Butternut Squash, Chicken, and Rice

At some point back in those distant, glorious early fall days, the farmer's market was just rolling in butternut squash. A surplus of product, you may remember from your Economics 101 days, usually drives prices down. Penny-pincher that I am, I stocked up.

Right about that time, however, a combination of crazy new work schedules, lack of foresight, and general stupidity meant that most of those butternut squash are . . . still sitting in the garage, looking a little moldy 'round the edges.

Having established that I am something of a penny-pincher, moldy edges failed to deter me from cooking up this tasty dish. Admittedly, this was a month or two or three ago, and I still have more squash sitting out in the garage (discounting the pumpkins scattered throughout the house, which I suppose also ought to be cooked eventually), but I just found a new butternut squash soup recipe I need to try--and really, a slip of mold or squash rot here or there never hurt anyone, right?

To reassure those of you (such as my mother) who are genuinely worried for my (or perhaps the Darling Devoted Husband's) gastrointestinal health, obviously I chopped off the moldy edges. Any squash flesh which has turned brown or otherwise looks inedible is discarded. I promise, next year I shall figure out a better way to preserve the harvest's bounty than sticking it in the garage.

To begin, peel and chop into roughly one-inch pieces a butternut squash:

 

Chop two or three boneless, skinless chicken breasts into one-inch pieces. Then, gather your other ingredients. Rice, pine nuts, chicken bouillon cubes, and water:

 

  

Cinnamon, turmeric, ground ginger, cumin, and paprika:

  

Brown onion and garlic in a pan:

  

Add some pine nuts to toast:

  

Add the butternut squash, chicken, chicken broth, and spices:

  

Cover and let simmer until squash is tender and chicken is cooked through. Meanwhile, cook rice in water or broth in another pot. 

When the chicken is cooked and squash is tender, remove lid and allow mixture to cook down a little while you toast the remainder of the pine nuts:

  

 And add them to the rice (here, creamy arborio rice):

  

Serve the chicken and squash mixture over the rice.

  

The squash seems like it would be out of place with these bold spices, but it fit in surprisingly well. Even the DDH liked it, and he's really not a squash fan (another reason they're still languishing in the garage). In fact, now that I look at the pictures, I think I may go make it again.

 

Never Eat Yellow Snow

But the white kind makes delicious ice cream.

Last night, Tulsa had a cheery little ice storm; nothing major. The office still expected me in this morning; the pet store still wanted me at noon. Unfortunately (or fortunately, perhaps), it began snowing this morning and has yet to stop. Long story short, the pet store closed at three this afternoon, and after a half-hour white-knuckle driving experience, I made it home safely by four, a good four-and-a-half hours earlier than I usually arrive.

The Darling Devoted Husband, having the good sense to work at a sensible office that was closed all day, had been prowling around for several hours already. He suggested we go see a movie. I told him he was crazy. He wanted to walk somewhere and go find dinner. I told him he was certifiably insane. Somehow, I ended up volunteering to make a vast assortment of food.

I mixed up the ingredients for coconut bread in the bread machine. Breakfast tomorrow, check. The DDH made brownies (delicious, delicious Trader Joe's truffle brownies). Dessert tonight, check. I made sweet potato fries, green beans, and pork chops: a dinner, I thought, capable of satisfying the most restless and hungry husband. Somewhere in here I also feed the dogs and the rabbit.

I sit down to enjoy some champagne after my meal, drowsily contemplating a brownie. The DDH decides he needs vanilla ice cream to go with this brownie. Having established that traveling anywhere to acquire said ice cream would prove him mentally unstable, he decides to make some. Using snow. Which, admittedly, we have in vast quantities. Picturing a long, complicated, and rather unsanitary process, I consider killing him. Having decided that would be rather messy and probably take as much energy as making this snow ice cream, I settle for just being not particularly supportive.

Surprisingly (to me, anyway, as the DDH's brilliant schemes usually turn out to be time-consuming and complicated affairs), making snow ice cream is a quick and easy process.

All you do is mix together half-and-half, vanilla, salt, and sugar:

Then add snow (we used snow from the hood of his car so as to avoid any stray bits of grass and dirt):

a cup or two at a time:

 

until you reach your desired consistency:

Ideally, you top this with a warm brownie (or warm gooey brownie mess, if you prefer, and I do):

and eat it immediately.

It was pretty good. Really liquidy, but delicious with the brownie. It was fast and easy enough to make even when tired from a day fighting traffic and weather, and actually sort of fun. It reminds you why you liked the snow when you were a kid.

But the yellow snow--it's not lemon flavored. Really.