Pan-Seared Chicken with Shallots

I got a pretty unique package in the mail from my Aunt Nancy recently.

When I opened it up, this is what I found:

She had sent me home-grown shallots and garlic. After I trimmed them a bit and put them in bowls, this is what they looked like

I’ve never used shallots before and pretty much had no idea what to expect, so I peeled one just to see what it was like.

Then I may have nibbled a bit at it to see what it tasted like

Then I may have had to brush my teeth because it was both onion-y and garlic-y.

Anyway, I was on the lookout for recipes that used shallots. My Aunt Lilith was in town and described a dish that Julia Child made with chicken breasts and shallots. Not long after, I found a recipe that seemed to follow Julia’s pretty closely, so I decided to go for it.

The recipe called for four chicken breasts, pounded thin. Since my chicken breasts were pretty big, I elected to slice them into cutlets instead of pounding them. Make your big breast jokes now, I’ll wait.

I heated a tablespoon of butter in a large skillet with some olive oil.

While the butter melted, I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper.

Then I put the chicken cutlets in the pan to begin searing.

While they sizzled, I turned to the shallots. It was time to chop them up. Physically, they seemed pretty similar to garlic, so I treated them similarly. I crushed them slightly with the knife to loosen the skins and then peeled the cloves.

Interestingly, when I cut into them, I discovered that they’re more like onions on the inside, with layers. Very interesting.

Next, I got out some of the homegrown garlic and did the same to it.

I probably should have diced the garlic much more finely, but I was trying to watch a movie and make dinner at the same time, and cutting the garlic any finer seemed like too much of an effort at the time. That’s how I roll.

The chicken’s doing well. I flipped it over to cook the other side.

When it was just about cooked through, I took the chicken out and put it on a plate. It could have used another minute or two, but it was going to go back in the pan later so it didn’t need to be finished up yet.

To everything that was left in the skillet, I added the chopped shallots and garlic, plus a little basil from a tube of pureed fresh basil that I had in the fridge. The basil wasn’t in the recipe, but it seemed appropriate. Plus, my aunt had suggested adding herbs at this point. So I did.

Next, I added some white wine and let it warm up, and then some chicken broth. Because some reviewers complained that the sauce was too runny in the end, I thickened the chicken broth with some corn starch before adding it.

After about 5 minutes of simmering, I added two tablespoons of butter and reduced the heat to let it melt slowly.

Finally, when it was about done, I returned the chicken to the pan to let it cook in the sauce for a few minutes. The recipe didn’t say to do that, but my aunt did, and it sounded good to me.

And that was that!

I served with some boxed roasted garlic mashed potatoes (always surprisingly yummy) and sautéed zucchini and mushrooms. The dish was pretty elegant and is something that I would serve company. The flavor was rich and complex, and the creamy sauce would have gone nicely over rice or some pasta. The recipe is here and I’ll put it in the recipes tab, as well.

Now, what else can I make with shallots?

Chicken Piccata

My list of things to blog about has been growing. Stay tuned for garlic spinach, spicy chicken, drunken shrimp, barbecue sauce, and more. I still find time to cook, even if I am running around like a crazy person most of the time. I really shouldn’t complain, though, because when I look back on my life, the busiest times have been the times when I was happy and doing really well. Still, finding time to sit down and reflect has been harder lately. I suppose priority is given to hubby and the dogs. You don’t mind, do you?

Last week, I decided to make an easy stovetop chicken dinner. Hubby was at a conference in Chicago and I was feeling both hungry for something new and lazy about preparing it just for myself. I did an ingredients search for “chicken and white wine,” just because I had a giant bottle of pinot grigio in my fridge, and I came up with this. There were a lot of chicken piccata recipes, though most of them called for capers and I didn’t have any, but this one looked like a winner.

First, I measured out some flour.

Added some salt.

And some ground black pepper.

I put them in a large ziplock bag and mixed them up.

Then I added the thinly sliced chicken breasts, one at a time, and shook the whole thing up. Puppy loved this step.

Next, melt some butter in a large skillet. Lots of butter.

And sauté that chicken. I was aiming to just brown both sides initially.

Then pour yourself a glass of wine to make sure it’s safe for dinner.

And pour some in with the chicken.

Just let it simmer for a while.

Finally, at the last minute, drizzle with lemon juice. So simple, yet so, so important.

And serve! Easy, simple.

Served with some sautéed spinach. I was super surprised at how well this worked. The butter and the lemon juice worked well with the crispiness of the pan-fried chicken, and it went very well with the wine. Yum.

The leftovers weren’t as good. I suppose the microwave ruined that nice crispy texture that the outside of the chicken had. But fresh out of the pan… oh yum. I want to make this again.

Reviewers suggested adding capers. I didn’t do that, so I can’t say if it would have made it better or not. But this was pretty good as is.

Here’s the recipe. Try it and let me know how it goes!

Dinner for a Friend: Crumb-Coated Chicken Thighs

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of having an old friend over for dinner. We went to high school together, then went to college in neighboring states, and then separated pretty completely. She moved to England for a few years and I moved first to Pennsylvania, then to Maryland. Now, she’s back in the States and working for Congress. It’s funny to meet up with someone you used to have sleepovers and bonfires with when you’re in your late 20s. I guess our conversation was a little different than it was back then, but hanging out was pretty much exactly the same as it used to be, except that we drank wine.  She’s a scientist and I’m in mental health, and we talked about the profound difference between those. I honestly remember having conversations like that in high school. Love it.

I made a dish that I’ve made several times before but never blogged bout because it’s so simple. Simple and delicious, yes, but simple. I guess I felt like a fraud taking pictures and saying “Look what I accomplished!” when an 8-year-old could have done the same thing, but ah well. I’m doing that now.

Start off with a mixture of bread crumbs (I used Italian seasoned), salt, cumin, paprika, chili powder, curry powder, and black pepper in a large zip-lock bag.

Drop in chicken thighs and shake it, shake it, shake it like a polaroid polaroid picture. Drop on a pan and bake at a high temperature. The end.

For sides, I did roasted potatoes that are also too easy to blog about.

And remember that lime-cilantro rice that I screwed up last time? I made that again, though this time with only white rice, not a mixture of brown and white, and I did it in my rice cooker.

Apparently I didn’t get a picture of everything together. Forgive me, maybe it was the wine. Or maybe it was just too fun talking like a bunch of school girls. But it all turned out pretty well. A good hearty meal that left me with yummy leftovers for lunch the next day.

Bad Day Minestrone Soup

I don’t dislike rainy days. In fact, I normally like their coziness. But that only applies when I’m inside. This whole week has been nonstop rain, and that doesn’t go well with my job. One day this week, I was constantly in and out of the car, meeting with clients, driving all over town. Because of the rain, I was running late to everything, I kept getting soaked, and I felt like I didn’t accomplish anything. I even got hit on by a food pantry volunteer: “Hey baby, why hasn’t your boyfriend put a ring on your finger yet?” I replied with a chilly, “I’m MARRIED” and showed him my left hand, which he had apparently mixed up with my un-ringed right hand, to which he countered, “I’m sorry, baby, I’m not used to working with such beautiful women!” Of course, this interaction took place while I was trying to take care of a diabetic client whose blood sugar had plummeted. And then I worked an extra hour because a client’s quick follow-up visit at the doctor turned into an ER visit. Long story short, I was tired and very cranky by the time I got home.

Perfect day for soup, and perfect day to spend some time in the kitchen angrily chopping things up. This minestrone (which is pronounced min-es-trone-ee, by the way) recipe was found on my hometown’s online newspaper some time back. They have a silly little food section where 5 new recipes along a theme are posted every week, and I’ve always found the section useless when there are so many good recipe websites, but this recipe find was solid gold. I’ve looked for a similar one on other sites and have never found one, so isledegrande gets credit for this one. I’ve made it many times before and it is definitely worth making again.

But first things first: a glass of delicious cheap red wine. This is very important.

Next, take a pound of sweet Italian sausage, remove the casings, crumble, and brown in a big pot. I almost skipped this, since I didn’t have any sausage, but I’m a good wife and knew that vegetarian soup wouldn’t cut it for hubby. Anyway, I was afraid that omitting this would have a bad effect on the overall quality of the soup, so I made a special trip for it. Yes, I know that technically minestrone is supposed to be meatless, but hey, this version of it isn’t. Go with it.

When I tried to crumble it on the cutting board, I just ended up with a gooey mess. I should have known better.

Here it is after it’s been browned in a big gumbo pot and then set aside.

Next, the recipe calls for 2 onions, chopped. I decided not to follow this to the letter, as my onions were huge. That knife in the picture is a giant chef’s knife, the biggest one I own, so you can see how big the onion is by comparison.

So, only some onion. I cheated and used my food processor to chop it finely. But didn’t take pictures of that, apparently.

Here it is in the pan with some chopped garlic. Browned bits from the sausage were still in the pot, but they came up with the onions and added extra flavor as they cooked.

Next, add a can each of red kidney beans and cannellini beans (drained and rinsed), plus 6 cups of water and a bay leaf. I forgot to photograph the beans looking all pretty and colorful in the colander, so you’ll just have to believe me.

Bring the mixture to a boil, and then return the sausage to the pan and add chopped carrots and celery,

a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes,

salt, pepper, nutmeg, and oregano.

Stir it all up, and then let it simmer (covered) for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, chop up some zucchini

And half a head of cauliflower.

Also, measure out a cup of uncooked pasta. I have tried a bunch of shapes, but anything small is good. Don’t overdo the pasta, though, no matter how tempting it is when you’re looking at that tiny cup, since it swells up and absorbs so much soup when you cook it.

Add the zucchini, cauliflower, and pasta, and cook for another 15 minutes or so. Then it’s ready to serve! You’re supposed to remove the bay leaf at this point, but I never find it until later.

I like to top with a bit of parmesan cheese. Yum!

I think this is my first time actually including the cauliflower, and to be honest, I think it’s a bit much. It tipped the balance from chunky to too-chunky soup (I spooned extra broth into the bowls when serving). But I think that’d due more to the amount that the recipe called for than the actual ingredient, so scale back a little if you make this. Regardless, the taste is satisfying and wonderful. It’s a beautiful rainy day meal, and it freezes very well.

Recipe is in the unshared tastebook (unshared since I liberally borrowed pictures, not realizing that I’d ultimately be sharing the recipes). Here's the original.(Jan 7, 2010). Email or comment if you have trouble finding it.