Parmesan-Crusted Chicken Breasts with Pesto sauce and Big-Mushroom-Veggie Saute
Serves: 4 (Yes I only made it for one with no left overs. I'm getting really good at that.
- 4 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 4 6-oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 2 c Store bought shredded domestic Parmesan Cheese
- 3 portobello mushroom caps, gills scraped off with a spoon, thinly sliced (so portobellos were a bit expensive, so I went with creminis which are just baby portobellos).
- 1/2 small Spanish onion, finely chopped ( so I actually chopped the onion, but forgot to put it into the recipe).
- 2 cloves Garlic, chopped
- 1 bunch thin asparagus, ends trimmed and discarded, spears chopped into 2 inch lengths
- 3 T Good quality aged sherry vinegar, or red wine vinegar
- 3/4 c chicken stock or broth
- 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
- a handful of fresh parsley
- 6 oz good quality store-bought pesto (yah I so am not going to buy store bought pesto. It's relatively cheap to make on your own, and so much better than store bought).
Jenn Note: Okay so as I'm rereading the ingredients I realized I didn't really follow this recipe much at all. I stopped to pick up asparagus at QFC (local grocery store) because I swear they had it on sale for .99 cents per lb. Only today it was $4.99 per lbs - Yah I don't think so! So I decided to by pass the asparagus.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium to medium-high heat with 2 T oil. Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Dump cheese out onto a plate and press the chicken into the cheese, covering all the pieces in cheese on both sides. It helps if your chicken is a bit wet.
Add chicken to hot skillet, allowing it to cook a full 6-7 minutes - DO NOT MESS WITH THE BIRD! The Parmesan is browning and melting together to form an all cheese, no bread crumb crust all over the chicken. After 7 minutes (or when chicken budges easily), turn and cook the chicken 5-6 minutes more.
While the chicken is browning, heat another large skillet over high heat with remaining 2 T oil. Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Brown the mushrooms for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic (yah forgot to add the onions - oops. But somehow didn't forget to add the garlic...gee wonder why?). Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the asparagus, tossing to combine. Add the sherry vinegar and continue to cook until the skillet is almost dry, about 1 minute. (I didn't have sherry or red wine vinegar so I added balsamic...) Add the chicken stock and cherry tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes, or until the asparagus is tender. (Jenn note: so I didn't do this either. See I don't like cooked tomatoes - as in from raw to cooked - but love canned tomatoes. Anyhow, I didn't add them. And I didn't add the asparagus because of the above note...and so I didn't add the chicken stock either...just had sauteed mushrooms and garlic.)
Add the parsley and tossing to coat.
Top chicken with a strip of pesto across each breast. Serve a pile of the big-mushroom-veggie saute alongside each breast.
The chicken was the star here by far. The side dish was just something. I made garlic/pesto mashed potatoes. I already had the pesto so I figured why not. A bit too much garlic in the potatoes...and so now my breath is ...well let's say I won't be kissing anyone.
So I wondered about why you would remove the gills from the mushrooms. Not that I used portobellos, but was curious. Apparently removing the gills is only done for aesthetic reasons. The gills tend to blacken whatever they are being cooked with...in this case the veggies. See. You learned something today.
Now go try this recipe. And let me know if you actually follow the recipe.
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