Monday, July 30, 2007

Rosemary Lemon Chicken

I made this the day before a party to pop in the oven and slow cook until all the food was ready. I think this is pretty much fool proof however long you want to cook it.

Preheat a large skillet to med-high temp. Pound out boneless and skinless chicken breasts into thin cutlets. Cut in quarters, if necessary. Salt and pepper both sides. In a plastic ziplock bag, add 2 cups of flour and season with paprika to taste. Add cutlets to plastic bag and shake. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of your preheated skillet and add 2 pats of butter. Shake off excess flour from cutlets and add to the pan. Cook each side till golden browned but not cooked through. Place browned cutlets into baking dish. Work in batches, adding more oil and butter as needed.
Once all the cutlets are browned, skim off excess fat from pan and add a 1:3 ratio of white wine to chicken stock to pan drippings. For example, 1 cup white wine to 3 cups chicken stock. Crank up heat to high and whisk until bubbling. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until slightly thickened and reduced.
Meanwhile, finely mince a few sprigs of rosemary and sprinkle over chicken cutlets. Thinly slice a fresh lemon and place one lemon slice on top of each chicken cutlet. Once pan gravy is ready, pour over chicken cutlets. You should have enough pan gravy to coat the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with foil wrap and place into refrigerator until next day, or you can cook this right away in a preheated 300 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours.
If cooking next day, preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place foil covered baking dish into oven and cook on this temp. until 1 hour before party, up to 3 hours beforehand. One hour before serving, raise oven temp to 300 degrees and cook for 1 hour. Remove foil and serve.

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