Boneless chicken breasts seem like such a convenient, quick dinner item, and then when I’m ready to cook I always have to research how to cook and what if I want it simple and not a Thai-marinated big-production affair? Sauté thinly sliced boneless breasts over medium-high heat, and then make a simple pan sauce with variations based on your mood, ingredients on hand and season.
Here’s how:
If you’re going to make a pan sauce of shallots, tomatoes and capers, which is a fine choice for early September:
- Boil tomato for one minute, remove and plunge into cold water. Peel, and cut in half, pressing out seeds and discard leaving only firm meat; cut into large dice.
- Cut up shallot
- Rinse capers, drain, and cut up.
- Get out butter and parsley. Cultured butter is nice for the sauce at end.
Cut your chicken breast in half horizontally to reduce the thickness of each piece. Put salt and pepper on. (Mark Bittman has you dredge the chicken lightly in flour or cornmeal, but I forgot and think it’s better without — in my experience such as in making beef stew, the flour tends to burn which ruins the dish.)
Heat your non-stick pan over medium-high heat for two minutes, add 2 T olive oil and 1 T butter and put in your chicken. Leave for two minutes, then rotate and leave for two more minutes. Then flip over and cook at least 3 minutes on over side until chicken is firm. If you’re a nervous Nelly like me, you can spear the meat with a knife and look inside to make sure it’s not raw. Remove to a plate, and make a pan sauce:
Shallots sautéed in fat remaining in pan, then add wine to deglaze. Then add stock or water, capers, and when water has evaporated, add tomatoes, stir and cook. Stir in 1 T butter and some chopped up parsley, and spoon over chicken breasts.
Goes nicely with roasted potatoes and green beans.
Variations:
Mix into flour: five-spice powder or cumin. Dredge chicken in flour before adding to pan.
Add balsamic vinegar at end of sauce-making before adding the butter.
Add anchovy after the shallots. Perhaps some garlic.
Nix the tomato; add lemon juice and zest added in after butter at very end. Or add mustard with butter at end.
Or add paprika to shallots or onions and then heavy cream (or sour cream or yogurt) and heat over low heat.
Mushrooms, chopped, after or instead of shallots.
Olives
Source: Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything — Sautéed Chicken cutlets with quick sauce
Simply Cook blog 