I've taken a little bit of a hiatus from writing in this blog. If you didn't know, my adventures in a tiny kitchen have recently turned into adventures in a big kitchen. And instead of cooking for just the one and only me, I've been cooking for my mom and dad as well. So, it didn't seem so pertinent to post things here.
However, last night I made a really tasty recipe that could easily be made for just one. The heading is pretty self explanatory but I will describe it for you anyway. It's basically a chicken breast, sauteed. Then you make a quick pan sauce using cranberry juice, butter, mustard, and chicken stock. The cauliflower is roasted in the oven and then you toss it with a butter mustard and lemon sauce and roast a little longer. The lemon in the dressing adds a bright kick to the otherwise boring cauliflower and the mustard brings out the flavors in the chicken dish. Serve with salad on the side.
Here's how to do it:
First, prepare the cauliflower. If you want to make the whole head, that's fine. This will keep well as leftovers. Cut it up into indivual florets. I know some people would say to make them evenly sized pieces, but I am not one of those people. I say, make them around the same size, but variety is the spice of life so if some little pieces happen or some big clunkers, you will just have some crispy bits and some softer bits. All will be delicious. Spray a baking dish with a Pam-like substance and the throw your cauli in there and sprinkle with salt. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, season your chicken breast (s) with salt, pepper, and dried thyme. Heat up a teeny bit of oil in a medium sized sautee pan (larger if you are doing more than one serving) and brown the chicken on both sides. Really get the chicken nice and brown. My version wasn't browned as much as I would have liked in the end. You don't need to cook the chicken all the way through at this stage. Remove from pan.
While you are browning the chicken, in a seperate pan or in the microwave, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Cut a lemon in half and then zest one half of the peel into the butter. Then squeeze the juice from that lemon into the butter/zest mixture. Last, add a tablespoon or two of whole grain dijon mustard. Stir the ingrediants all together. By the time your chicken is browned, your cauliflower should have roasted for at least 10 minutes. Remove from oven and toss the dressing you've prepared over the cauliflower. If you feel like you made too much dressing, save it, you can throw it into the pan sauce for the chicken. Put the cauliflower back in the oven, and roast for about 15 more minutes.
Back to the chicken dish: In the pan that you browned the chicken, melt 1 or 2 tablespoons of butter. Then add 1 or 2 tablespoons of flour (the same amount of each). Then add 1 or 2 tablespoons of mustard to that (or the leftovers from your cauliflower dressing). The butter, mustard, flour combo should bubble and cook up. Then, slowly add a 1/4 - 1/2 cup cranberry juice to this. Once that bubbles, add up to another cup of chicken stock (I'd buy stock in a resealable container). If you are only doing one chicken breast, I'd only use a quarter of a cup of cranberry juice and a 1/2 cup of stock. If you have dried cranberries, you can add them to the sauce at this stage.
Once this is boiling, add the chicken back into the pan. If you are nervous about cooking this all the way through, you can cover the pan for about 5 minutes to steam cook the remainder of the chicken. Once the chicken is cooked through, make sure to let the sauce simmer in the pan for at least 5 more minutes uncovered to thicken up. Once the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, it is done.
At this stage, your cauliflower should be done as well. Take the chicken out of the pan, and spoon the sauce over it. Serve with cauliflower and salad on the side for a healthy meal.
Both of these recipes were inspired by recipes from the Fast, Easy, Fresh cookbook by the editors of Bon Appetit Magazine.
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