Chicken with an Easy Tomato Balsamic Pan Sauce

 General, Ingredients, Poultry, Recipes, Techniques  2 Responses »
Sep 232014
 

sliced chicken breast on a white plate with greens in background and tomato balsamic sauce on top

 

Making a pan sauce is one of my favorite things to do when I’m cooking. It’s quick, easy, delicious and finishes off the dish nicely. Plus, it forces you to let the meat rest while you make the sauce, and letting the meat rest is so important to keep it juicy and moist. But wait… there’s more… making a pan sauce is like doing half the dishes - by deglazing, you clean off the bottom of the pan as you incorporate all those tasty brown bits into the sauce AND making the sauce doesn’t make a second pan dirty. It’s a win-win-win-win!

Need a little tutorial on making a pan sauce once you’ve finished cooking your steak, chicken, pork or fish? It’s super easy. You just need to remember three (or maybe four) things:

  • Add Flavor: You start by adding some onion, shallots, garlic, and/or herbs to give the sauce some flavor.
  • Add Liquid or something acidic: This will be the main flavor of the sauce - wine, stock, juice, tomatoes
  • Let it Reduce: The flavors need time to concentrate and blend and the sauce needs to thicken slightly, so let the mixture simmer and reduce for 2 or 3 minutes, or until you feel it looks and tastes right.
  • Finish the Seasoning: After you taste it above, you might think it’s perfect or you might think it needs something - a pinch of salt, a nub of butter to mellow it all, a squeeze of lemon to brighten it. Season it up and serve it!

Here’s a 10-minute lesson on making a pan sauce:

 

Chicken Breasts with Tomato Balsamic Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 4 (6-ounce) chicken breasts
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • olive oil
  • 2 shallots, thinly sliced
  • 1 clove garlic, smashed
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered (or chopped fresh tomatoes)
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley or basil leaves

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add olive oil to the skillet and sear the chicken breasts, cooking for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side (depending on thickness), or until firm to the touch. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
  2. Add the shallot and garlic to the skillet and cook for two minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and simmer until it has almost disappeared. Immediately add the tomatoes and toss well. Cook until the tomatoes soften slightly – just a minute or two. Toss in the basil or parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  3. Pour over the chicken and serve.

 

Chipotle Chickpea Chicken Chili

 Poultry, Recipes, Soups  6 Responses »
Sep 092014
 
This is not the chipotle chickpea chicken chili, but it does look good, doesn't it? ;)

This is not the chipotle chickpea chicken chili, but it does look good, doesn’t it? ;)

I always take a vacation at the end of the summer. It’s a time of year that I love. Not only is the weather usually perfect - not too warm but still warm enough - but the end of summer and beginning of autumn feels like a new year to me, a new beginning. Maybe that’s because my birthday falls at the end of August, so September and the fall really IS a new year for me. I’m also a sucker for any change of seasons and how that affects our cooking and what we eat. It’s ironic that in the summer, when we have more time and the pace is slower, we tend to cook quickly or not at all. We grill, have cool salads, sandwiches, burgers. Autumn begs us to slow cook, braise and spend more time preparing meals, but we’re suddenly short on time with work to get done, school to return to, etc…

That’s why pressure cooking can be such a coup in the fall and winter. It gives us the great flavors and aromas that we’re seeking from braising, but it does it in one third of the time it would usually take on the stovetop or in the oven. I also love that a pressure cooker can forgive us for our forgetfulness or lack of preparation. It can cook root vegetables in minutes, make soups and stews in no time, and if we’ve forgotten to soak beans for chili, it can do it in five minutes for us. That’s how I was able to make one of my favorite chills - Chipotle Chickpea Chicken Chili - the other night in just minutes, using raw chickpeas. I was craving a delicious chili and the pressure cooker came to my rescue. It’s like having a kind, compassionate and forgiving friend in the kitchen to help you out, and I love having someone on my side during the beginning of the busy new year!

You can see a video of me and my friend making this chili here… on my brand spankin’ new Youtube channel!

 

Looking for a good pressure cooker? You can see me demonstrating a 6 quart electric digital pressure cooker all day on QVC on Wednesday, September 10th. Tune in!

Chipotle Chickpea Chicken Chili

Serves 8

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups dried chickpeas
  • 1 to 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 3 pounds chicken, breast or thigh or a combination of the two, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 yellow onions, chopped
  • 2 ribs celery, chopped
  • 2 large carrots, chopped
  • 3 bell peppers (red, green, yellow, orange or a combo), chopped
  • 3 large cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 to 3 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dried ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 2 tablespoons cornmeal
  • ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
(or parsley)

Directions: Continue reading »