Thursday, March 1, 2012

The Un-recipe recipe

              Sometimes the best recipes aren’t recipes at all.  We eat chicken a lot at our house and every time we do, Jacob says he doesn’t like it.  I always remind him that he does indeed like chicken.   Every Tuesday is chicken night and I do try to cook it a little different every week.  Grilling is my favorite, but not always different enough!
 So, this week I tried something new.  I pounded boneless, skinless chicken breasts, piled the flattened chicken with fresh flat leaf spinach, and then added finely diced (not peeled) apple.  To each chicken breast I added a small (less than an ounce) slice of part skim mozzarella.  I then rolled up the chicken, securing with 3 toothpicks.  Remember to know how many toothpicks you put in, so you know how many to take out!  I sprinkled McCormack’s smokehouse maple seasoning (you could use any spice blend that you like or just salt and pepper) on the chicken and then sautéed them in about a tablespoon of olive oil until brown.  Then I deglazed (fancy word for pour in some kind of liquid!) the pan with leftover sparkling cider.  I let the chicken simmer covered until it reached 165 degrees (make sure to put the thermometer into the chicken and not the middle stuffed part.  I took the chicken out of the pan and then turned up the heat on the pan to reduce the cider into a pan sauce.  To serve, I cut the rolls into slices to put on the plate like a restaurant would and then drizzled a little of the sauce on each serving.  Take a look at my pic - It was delicious.  Jacob’s reaction was:  “this doesn’t look like chicken!”  Then he proceeded to gobble it up!
I say this isn’t really a recipe, because I thought about what would make a good dinner and what would be different and I put it together.  Think about what you have in your pantry and what would go good together.  I didn’t plan to use the Smokehouse maple seasoning until I looked at my seasoning cupboard.  I forgot I had the leftover cider, but I am glad I did.
Try this un-recipe or make up your own.  Happy eating!

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