IF IT'S TUESDAY, IT MUST BE CHICKEN...

IF IT’S TUESDAY, IT MUST BE CHICKEN…

… or Monday or Wednesday.

Last week Richard decided to dive into our bag of Costco frozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts. I’m on an “on again-off again” NuAtkins “this is my diet forever” lifestyle and right now I’m “on again” – sort of. We’re also trying to budget our food money – sort of. So… it was low carb, cheap dinners last week.

Hidden away in our ‘eat lite diet’ cookbooks was Suzanne Somers’ “Eat Great, Lose Weight” –

a book I don’t think either one of us ever opened.  So... Richard opened it.  Now, I don’t claim to know whether her “Somersize” recipes will reprogram my metabolism, give me more energy or help me shed a few pounds as claimed (Suzanne doesn’t quite have the figure she had on the book cover some 15 years ago when it was first published – menopause is not a girl’s best friend – no pun intended) – but the dishes sounded good and we did have those gazillion Costco chicken breasts in the freezer.  So…

… Monday became chicken piccata night which was “light and lemony and yummy,” just like she promised. And it had capers. I love capers! And it was only pennies!  So…

… after such a promising start, I asked Richard to take pictures while he prepared Tuesday’s chicken dish: chicken paillard w/ lemon-parsley butter (lemons from our lemon tree, parsley from our herb pot garden – no expense there) w/ seared red chard. And, again, as Suzanne promised, it was “a simple, great meal… Fresh, delicious and satisfying.” It really was good. Could-make-it-for-company-good. So I thought I’d share.

SUZANNE SOMERS’

CHICKEN PAILLARD w/ LEMON-PARSLEY BUTTER

and SEARED RED CHARD

Ingredients:

Serves 2

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

salt & freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons olive oil

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

10 shallots, finely diced

juice from 3 lemons

½ cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

2 bunches red Swiss chard, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Rinse the chicken breasts and pat dry. Place each breast flat on a chopping block. With your knife parallel to the chopping block, slice the breast in half through the middle to make it half as thick.

Place each slice between 2 layers of plastic wrap and pound w/ a mallet until ¼ inch thick.

Season each breast w/ salt and pepper.

Heat a skillet over high heat. Add 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and as many of the chicken slices as will fit in the pan w/o overlapping. Brown for 2 minutes on each side, then set aside on a shallow baking pan in an oven on warm. Repeat w/ remaining chicken.

Place the chicken pan over medium heat and melt 3 tablespoons of the butter. Add the shallots, cooking until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the lemon juice and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce by half. Cut the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter into small pieces and whisk into the pan until sauce is smooth.

Remove from the heat. Stir in additional salt, pepper, and the parsley. Keep warm.

Heat a wok or large skillet over very high heat. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the chard, quickly cooking until just wilted, about 1 minute.

Season w/ salt and pepper. Arrange the chicken over the chard on a platter and top w/ the lemon butter sauce.

Wednesday – Chicken Paillard w/ Fresh Tomato Salsa and Arugula! Can’t wait.