Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Bacon and Mushrooms
Roasted New Potatoes
Glazed Carrots and Onions
Cooking time: 35 minutes for menu Cooking schedule: see below for instructions
It's still spring, the weather inevitably turns rainy and cool, so we still have some indoor cooking....
Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Bacon and Mushrooms
Total time: 30 minutes
One cannot go wrong with mushrooms and bacon.... A bit decadent, perhaps, but life is for living. My bacon is very lean, so I have to sauté it in oil. Use it or not, as needed.
Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4oz (120gr) mushrooms
- 2oz (60gr) bacon about 2 - 3 slices
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup (4oz, 125ml) white wine
- 1 tsp cornstarch (maizena) dissolved in 1 tbs water
Instructions:
- Roughly chop onion.
- Mince garlic.
- Clean and thickly slice mushrooms.
- Roughly chop bacon.
- Heat olive oil in medium skillet over medium heat.
- Add bacon, onion, garlic, and sauté 5 minutes.
- Add mushrooms and sauté 5 minutes longer.
- Move onion/mushrooms to the sides of the pan.
- Add chicken breasts and brown lightly on both sides, about 7 minutes total.
- Add white wine, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until chicken is done, 10 - 15 minutes longer.
- Remove chicken to a plate. Increase heat under skillet.
- Add cornstarch mixture to mushroom bacon sauce, stirring until thickened.
- Spoon over chicken and serve.
Roasted New Potatoes
Total time: 35 minutes
New potatoes are very thin-skinned, immature potatoes. They have a short shelf life, usually only a few days before they start turning green and need to be added to the compost pile. You probably can only get them at the farmer's markets - but try, if you can. They're worth it. If not, substitute the small 'creamer' potatoes.
Ingredients:
- 12 - 18 new potatoes, depending on size enough for two people
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions:
- Leave potatoes whole and unpeeled. Just wash lightly.
- Toss with oil, lightly salt and put into a baking dish large enough for them to be in a single layer.
- Bake at 400F for 30 minutes.
- Stir half way through baking time.
- Remove from oil, put into a small dish and serve.
Glazed Carrots and Onions
Total time: 30 minutes
A bit of sugar emphasized the natural sweetness of the carrots. If you have a rippled knife it makes these quite pretty.
Ingredients:
- 2 - 3 medium carrots
- 1 small or 1/2 medium onion
- 1/3 cup (3oz, 90ml) cup chicken stock
- 2 tsp fresh parsley
- 1 tbs butter
- 1 tbs sugar
Instructions:
- Peel carrots and roll cut - that is cut the end off of the carrot at an angle, roll carrot 1/4 turn and cut next piece about 3/4 inch away at an angle, roll 1/4 and cut next piece, etc. This gives you interesting looking pieces with lots of surface.
- Roughly chop onion.
- Put carrots and onions in a small sauté pan.
- Add stock, cover and cook, 15 - 20 minutes or until vegetables are done.
- Remove cover, turn heat to medium-high and cook off all but 2 tbs of liquid.
- Add butter and sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar.
- Sauté until reduced to a glaze, stirring often.
- Stir in parsley and serve.
Cooking schedule: 35 minutes
Assemble all ingredients and utensils
Utensils: measuring cups, spoons, knives,
large skillet with lid, baking dish, small skillet, lid
Turn oven on, 400F (200C)
Wash potatoes, toss with oil, put in baking dish
Roast potatoes
Roughly chop onion, divide
Mince garlic
Chop bacon
Sauté bacon, garlic, onion
Clean, slice mushrooms
Add mushrooms to bacon/onion, sauté
Cut carrots |
Move veg to side of skillet, brown chicken
Put carrots, onion, stock, herbs in small skillet
Cover, simmer
Turn chicken
Stir potatoes
Dissolve cornstarch in water
Add white wine to chicken, cover, simmer
Pause while stuff cooks
Uncover carrots, cook off liquid
Remove chicken to plate, increase heat
Thicken sauce, spoon over chicken
Add butter, sugar to carrots
Remove potatoes
Finish carrots serve |