chicken breast quickies - that didn't come out right

square plates are awesome - like a canvas!

Sautéing or braising chicken breasts in a fry pan has got to be the easiest and quickest way of preparing a meat-based meal, but I’m surprised to find how many people still have trouble with this. I’ve prepared a few pointers to make the process a bit more clear and get you on your way to happier, healthier breast-feeding.

These chicken breasts were reserved for cooking from a previous post on chicken stock. Check that out if you want to learn more about stock creation.

The two biggest concerns around the breast appear to be knowing when it is properly cooked through, and what to do about seasonings and flavors. The second concern starts first. Think of flavors in advance and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble – better than the scenario where the thing’s already in the pan and you realize too late that you didn't plan the next step.

This goes back to the idea of mise en place, the French way of saying don’t have the things you want to use in an inaccessible pantry back cupboard. Keep things you use frequently handy, and get the things you want to cook with out and ready before cooking. It’s a simple idea but it makes things go much more smoothly.

This time around we’re keeping our recipe very simple, but you can work in all kinds of things after getting this down. Of course the vegetables here can be switched out with others of your choice. The lovely thing about what we're doing here with salting the vegetables a bit while cooking is that this will end up making its own sauce, by drawing the vegetable juices out. That just sounds delicious already right? Say it with me now - vegetable juices.

The Procedure:

In the video, I previously had poached these breasts in water to help create a chicken stock base. You can poach in boiling water for about 1 minute if you like, but if you have the time, you might as well turn that water into a chicken stock since you're already off to a good start.

Salt and pepper your breasts – both sides – and rub in bit of oil with maybe an herb. That's plenty right there, but I put it on a plate of sliced onions for some more flavor, since I wanted to cook onions anyway.

Get your frying pan hot on high heat, and then lower to medium heat.
 

over a bed of onion slices for a nice addition

Add your oil, wait a moment for it to get hot as well.

Place in your ingredients starting with the hardest ones, like carrots. You don't have to cook these for so very long, just a minute or two is fine.

Make some room in the middle, and place your chicken in the pan skin-side down – away from yourself in case of oil splashes – and listen for a sizzle (and make sure it’s there). I reiterate - if there is no sizzle, the pan has gotten too cold. If you just leave it on medium the whole time this shouldn't be a problem.
 

Keep on medium and don't walk away from the frying pan too much, chicken doesn't take that long. This is key - do not move the chicken around. One flip is what we want, so leave it and only check to see if there's that golden color on the skin.

When the skin has gotten nice and golden, turn it over. It should only take 2-3 minutes per side, but chicken breasts vary in thickness so that's only a rule of thumb. When the chicken is done, take it out of the pan (or it’ll keep cooking) and put it on a plate to rest. One note, if you cover the pan with a lid like I do towards the end of the video here, the steam will cook the chicken from all around, so it'll stay juicy.
 

There are two methods for confirming that the chicken is cooked through. One is to use a meat thermometer – internal temp should be 74 degrees C or 165 degrees F. The other is to cut open the thickest part and confirm that there’s no pink meat. Once you cook a lot of these, a third option opens up and that’s to check by feel, the spring-back of the chicken when you poke it. By the way, I've noticed the look-and-see method only works for chicken breasts, for other meats it’s better to have a thermometer around.
 

And oh yeah, this is a chicken breast, don’t throw the skin away. That’s the best part! If you’re that worried about the extra calories, well, just don’t be worried. You’ve already gone lean by going chicken, right? Who would want to get rid of that crispy golden deliciousness?

Ingredients from the video

two chicken breasts SKIN ON
1 onion sliced
1 stock broccoli
1 carrot
2 big tomatoes diced
white wine or flavorful liquid (stock etc.)
herbs (thyme and sage here in the vid - you could also use dried if that's all you have, you poor thing)

chicken stock for the soul

If chicken soup is for the soul, then a good chicken stock is the basis of that spiritual healing. Another on the list of things that are a million times better fresh but that most of us rarely find time to make, this is one that is just integral to so many ways of cooking, and it’s great to have on hand. If you want to know where that rich, full flavor that you just can’t quite place is coming from in that expensive restaurant dinner, it’s the stock.

I follow the freezer-pack method, in which you freeze all of your stock in ice cube trays and then store the cubes in freezer bags for later use. I like this because you can use the stock cubes as measurements, and you can throw them right into a hot pan for instant satisfaction. Whatever you do – and you are bound to have heard this by now – don’t buy those bouillon cubes. That’s fools’ gold, a cubed kitchen trap hemorrhaging salt that’s sure to make your lovely dish unpleasant. In fact, when making stock let’s just leave salt out of the equation entirely.

Remember, we’re not making broth, it’s stock. It’s an ingredient, like salt is an ingredient. Since you don’t salt things for taste until the end of the cooking process, you want to avoid upping the salinity of your ingredients, which will only cook down and become more concentrated – hopefully not concentrated-ly salty. 

In the video, I use a couple chicken breasts to flavor the stock, but reserve them for another recipe. You can see that recipe here.

There’s an unavoidable part at the end of making a stock when every home chef (professional chefs having long lost their empathy for ingredients) feels bad about throwing out the used up vegetables. As hard as it is to come to terms with, those onions and carrots simply don’t have anything left to give.

If you’re really thrifty, you could use them in compost, but otherwise bite the what-a-waste bullet and toss them. It may seem like a pity, but the soul of that celery has been transferred to that liquid heaven in your pot.

can you think of anything that rhymes with tzatziki?

Lately, after reading a post on Chef John’s excellent blog Food Wishes, I have been hooked on marinating chicken with yogurt. Tzatziki-like concoctions are easy to make and make an amazing marinade and sauce.

Now yes I know, real Greek tzatziki is always served cold, and it’s certainly no marinade. But it’s a foodie buzzword and sounds a lot nicer than “yogurt marinade”, you have to admit.

yogurt-marinated chicken over pesto mashed potatos

Usually tzatziki has garlic, cucumber, some kind of herb (like mint or dill), and a few optional dudes (depending on who you ask) like olive oil, lemon juice, salt/pepper, and even nuts in some areas. It’s generally a dip and served with meat or bread. But we’ll blow it apart today.

There are a lot of regional varieties and different names for similar styles anyway, so it’s fair that we use it for a marinade. And on chicken. And still call it tzatziki. Anything goes when it’s good eating.

●chicken thigh meat, boneless or cut from bone but KEEP the skin 
●yogurt*
●garlic 
●herb (dill, parsley, or sage – let’s leave mint out of it for now)
●lemon juice
●olive oil
●cracked black pepper (no reason to buy pre-crushed anymore)
●cucumbers if you want, or replace them with thinly sliced onions (yeah, changing it up)

*Ah, additional note.  The yogurt used in tzatziki is Greek yogurt, which is a lot thicker.  You can strain thinner yogurts by pouring them into a coffee filter and leaving that over a jar (I also like to plastic wrap the thing) in the fridge overnight to make a similar-to-Greek-yogurt yogurt, but we don’t mind the thinner stuff in this recipe because it’s a marinade. If you want to use thick stuff, add in a bit more lemon juice or olive oil to thin it for marinating.

Take the chicken and cut it into strips about the same size. I usually cut about 3 strips per thigh, but it’s a preference thing. When you get thigh meat, it’s this meat that’s been wrapped around the bone so that it’s all sort of radially attached to the skin. If you roll it up like a cigar it’s easy to cut into even strips.

Season the chicken with salt, both sides. This isn’t an ingredient. Ingredients are things you have to go out and buy. If you don’t have salt in your house there is something seriously wrong in the kitchen. And if I’ve said it before, I’ve said it before: all salt is not made equal. Get a nice, good tasting salt full of minerals. You want to eat minerals, right? Not baking salt. Enough said.

Use about 2-3 tablespoons of yogurt per strip, and put it in a bowl, ziplock bag, or whatever your preference for marinating things is. Smash or crush the garlic (perfectionists, feel free to finely mince) and add that mess. Add a squeeze of lemon (I am pushing that as an official unit of measure), a drizzle of olive oil (bit more if you’re using thick-style yogurt), and throw/crack in your black pepper. Chop up your herb, throw that in, and stir it all up.

Dip each strip into the mix and coat it completely. When all the strips are coated, pile them all together and throw the sliced onions (and/or cucumber) on top. Spread that out and plastic wrap it. I’d leave it in the fridge at least an hour; overnight wouldn’t hurt.

Ok now that’s marinated, ready to go, so get your oven preheating to around 200 C. While that’s happening, get a fry pan and get it hot over medium/medium-high heat. Leaving the onions/cucumbers alone, shake the strips off and throw them on there (by throw I mean place carefully, away from you, skin-side down). There should be a sizzle sound, oh yes.

Keep around medium and go until you’re getting some golden brown type of color on the chicken, then flip to the other side. When you get some color there, take off the heat. Don’t worry, the chicken’s not supposed to be cooked yet. Put your onions and marinade into the bottom of some kind of bakeware (pyrex for me), then lay those strips on top. Pop into that oven for about 7-8 minutes. The rich flavors are going to impress you.

Deliciously tender and serves well with bread, flatbreads, rice, or pasta. How can you lose?

sweet strawberries Batman, a salad!

Sweet strawberry spinach salad yin-yang-ed with balsamic vinaigrette chicken scaloppini

The yin-yang effect - the sweetness and color of the red strawberries will contrast delightfully with the tangy, deep-maroon colored balsamic.

Let’s marinate our chicken, and then make the salad. To rightfully give it the scaloppini tag, we’ll need to flatten the breasts out a bit. Sandwich the breasts between sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap and lightly pound them down with a mallet, the goal being to get an equal thickness throughout. Once that’s done, season your scaloppini with salt and pepper and set in a tray or bowl. Pour enough balsamic vinegar to nicely cover (3-4 tablespoons should do it). Add a drizzle of olive oil. If you have it, sprinkle some fresh tarragon or sage leaves on top. I didn't at the time so there's none here in mine. Mix lightly and put away in the fridge.

Get some nice ripe strawberries (often smaller ones are sweeter, don’t be fooled) and slice them up finely. Sprinkle a bit of salt on them, and put aside in a small bowl. Wash your spinach thoroughly, and either use  whole leaves (my preference, if the leaves are small) or cut them into large pieces. Back to the bowl and add in either a bit of white wine or (if you’re avoiding alcohol) some white wine vinegar. Just a small bit, and then stir together gently. Now, drizzle some olive oil on your spinach leaves and toss. A pinch of sea salt adds a great crunch and taste. Add half of your strawberry mix and toss again gently. I recommend waiting until serving to put the other half of your strawberry mixture up on top to give the salad its beautiful color.

They've been marinating for long enough by now, so whip out your breasts like it's half-time at the Superbowl. Get a frying pan hot but don’t put in any oil – there’s enough of that already in the marinade. Shake off excess juices before putting it in the pan. There should be a sizzle! At this point, turn the heat down to medium / medium-low so that our thinned chicken doesn’t dry out. The key here is to not overcook the chicken. The cooking time is very short because of the thinness. When color comes half-way up the side of the chicken, turn them over. A good thing to keep in mind is that the chicken will continue cooking in its own heat even after you take it off the pan, so it’ll be done before you know it.

When plating, I tried to showcase the different dishes as individuals rather than combining them. Simple, light, and totally delicious - try this one out!