It's been ages since I've posted anything in this blog; I've been pretty lazy at keeping track of things I've been making, but I suppose now is a better time than ever.
Tonight I'll be posting what I made for dinner. Woo hoo exciting, isn't it? But yes, it was very yummy and once again without a recipe, but I did something different this time; I actually wrote down the ingredients that I used, and estimated proportions.
Here we go!
Chicken With Tarragon-Mushroom Sauce (and with zucchini too, for good measure)
1/2 white onion, minced
2 small zucchini, cut in half length-wise and sliced thin
1 small jar of artichoke hearts, in water, not oil
8 oz. fresh mushrooms of choice (white, crimini, whatever floats your boat)
1/3 cup white wine (I used Chardonnay)
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup chopped tarragon (FRESH, I must insist upon this, because if you use 1/4 cup of DRIED tarragon this will taste absolutely disgusting and you should not be using dried herbs anyway)
4 skinned and de-boned chicken breasts
2 tablespoons of real butter (margarine is not butter no matter what they tell you)
salt
pepper
Mise en plas:
Chop your onion, chop the zucchini, slice the mushrooms, and drain the artichoke hearts. If you want more artichoke heart love to go around around, the I would highly suggest you cut the artichoke hearts in half, that way everyone gets artichoke hearts.Yay for artichoke hearts!
ANYWAY.
So you got that all set up. No, what you have prepared does not need to look like the image to your left. In fact, the image to your left is a total set-up and I am a fraud for it, because when I'm cooking, I generally have the entire kitchen in chaos and a mess, so this was definitely a posed picture.
But it looks good right? I know.
So, take your chicken breasts. Pat them dry (very importante!), then season well on each side with salt and pepper.
In a big-ass skillet, heat it over med-high heat and spray with cooking spray (I use olive + canola oil in one of those spray-dispenser things because I have to watch my figure, ish). When it's hot but not smoking, add the chopped onion, and saute' for a couple of minutes or until it's translucent. At this point, add the mushrooms and zucchini and saute' for a couple of more minutes until it's kind of cooked but not cooked-cooked. Then add the wine. Let it come to a boil, turn the heat down a bit, and cook a little longer until the wine evaporates because god forbid someone gets drunk off of this.
Take the veggies out of the pan and set aside and keep warm (just throw some foil over them in a bowl or something).
Re-oil your pan and re-heat over medium-high. Add the chicken breasts, and cook on each side for about 4 minutes, or until done but not burned and dried and disgusting like a lot of places would do in a restaurant those bastards.
Take the chicken out and put on a plate and cover those with foil (Reynolds will love you after this is all done and they should give you money)
Back in the pan the veggies go! To this, on medium heat, add the butter, stir this well until the butter melts. Turn off the heat and add the artichoke hearts, lemon juice, tarragon, and a bit more salt and pepper to taste. If you want. Drink the rest of the wine.
Un-foil the chicken and put this mixture over the chicken and voila! You have food.
And we need sides!
To go with this I made...
Garlic-roasted white+green asparagus
1 bundle of green asparagus
1 bundle of white asparagus (just pay for it and shut up)
2 TBSP olive oil
sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
Snap off the wooden ends of the asparagus (do I need to tell you how to do this? ok, so basically, you grab each stalk of asparagus and bend, and it should snap at the point where it needs to and you want to throw the bottom ends away because it is like eating wood string or something if you eat them).
Turn the oven to a blazing hot 450F. Cut the asparagus in half. (not length-wise, that would just be stupid). Line a cookie sheet with foil (HI REYNOLDS!) and put 1 TBSP of the olive oil on there and make sure it coats every last inch. Throw the asparagus in a bowl and toss over them the garlic, a good few dashes of salt, and lots of black pepper depending on your taste. Throw this mix onto the cookie sheet and put this in the over for about 15 minutes, checking every so often to mix them around a bit so they are evenly cooked and browned.
There.
Last but not least is that we know every balanced meal (ha ha ha!) has a starch, thus I made mashed potatoes with fresh dill and sour cream!
Real damn simple.
Mashed Potatoes with Dill 'n Sour Cream (or plain yogurt because it's the same stupid thing)
Enough red potatoes for 4 people
1 8 oz. container sour cream, light sour cream, or plain yogurt
1/4 cup (give or take) fresh dill, chopped
salt
pepper
Cut the potatoes in half, boil til you can stick a fork in them with ease but not where they are falling apart pieces of mush.
Mash with the skins on, to your liking. I like the potatoes left with some chunks in them but that's my weird self.
Throw in the sour cream/yogurt, etc, and dill. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Yay mashed potatoes. Everyone likes mashed potatoes. If you do not like mashed potatoes you are an asshole.
And here's the plate:
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