Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Sage-Cream Sauce


Deeeeelicious! This is a crunchy crusted chicken breast with lots of flavor. The Sage cream sauce is worth the extra effort and I do say the meal is worthy of company. I served this with oven roasted potatoes and veggies on the side.
Funny story though, as I was cooking this meal Sophie was uncharacteristically occupied, usually she is right under my feet in the kitchen wanting to see what I'm doing. This time she was happily toddling in and out of the kitchen and around the house. At the time I was enjoying the peace and quiet, until later I realized the reason she was so content was probably because she was up to something naughty. I scanned each room in the house looking to see any destruction Sophie might have caused, and to my complete lack of surprise she had unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper all over the bathroom floor. Not only was it everywhere but torn into little tiny pieces by her little tiny fingers. I am still finding itty bitty pieces all over the house. In fact Matt found a pile of it carefully placed in one of his shoes, I suppose it's what she though to be the perfect hiding place.
So go cook up and enjoy this meal as I am highly recommending it, but keep an eye on those little ones, cuz you never know what their little minds will think up next.

For chicken: Makes 4 servings

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 egg whites
2 tsp. corn starch
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup coarse dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
zest of 1 lemon, minced
3 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise and lightly pound each piece between plastic wrap to an even thickness.
Blend egg whites, corn starch, and lemon juice with a fork in a wide shallow dish and set aside.
Combine bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, salt, pepper and zest in a second wide shallow dish ( a dinner plate works) and set aside.
Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture then in crumb mixture, pressing the crumbs on, to make sure they stick. After crusting the chicken let it sit at room temperature for 20min to set the crust.
Next saute chicken in oil, in a large nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat for 3 min. or until golden brown and crisp. Carefully turn each chicken piece with spatula and transfer skillet to the oven to finish cooking. Roast chicken just until done about 8 minutes.

For Sage-Cream sauce: Makes: 1 cup sauce

This sauce seems pretty versatile and I imagine it would be tasty over most chicken, fish, pastas etc...

1 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp. shallot, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine, white cooking wine or white grape juice
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
4 tbsp butter
1-2 tsp. fresh minced sage
salt, white pepper, and cayenne to taste

Saute shallot in 1 Tbsp butter in small sauce pan over medium heat just until soft, 2-3 min.
Add wine, cream, broth and lemon juice and simmer till reduced by half 8-10 min.
Whisk in 4 tbsp butter 1 tbsp at a time, stirring constantly. Do not add more butter until previous addition has completely melted ( I don't know why, that's just what the recipe says).
Finish sauce with sage and seasonings and serve over crusted chicken.

Hope you enjoy the meal :)

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