Weekly Dish

The weekend of Katrina, our friends Jerrod and Jessie were supposed to come stay with us. With Katrina and Jessie’s baby on the way, we decided to postpone the trip. I planned to make this chicken dish for them while they were here; it’s one of my favorite things to make for a small group of guests. Chicken and potatoes sounds simple, I know, but one of the things I really like about this recipe is that the flavors are surprisingly strong. The rich, citrus flavor of the roasted lemons adds just the right bite, and the capers and artichokes mingle nicely with the white wine to add some depth. I usually make the potatoes with a lot of rosemary too, but, well, you all know what happened to my rosemary. If you have some, please chop it and add when you sauté the potatoes. The trick to making this dish is timing, but if you follow these steps, it isn’t hard:

10-12 very small new potatoes, scrubbed

4 lemons

4 chicken breasts

Olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons capers

1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, diced

1/4 cup white wine

2 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat the broiler.

2. Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil. Boil potatoes until fork-tender, about 20 minutes.

3. Halve the lemons, and place in a flame-resistant dish (or in a foil packet). Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Kosher salt and cracked pepper. Broil the lemons until the edges begin to darken, about 8-10 minutes (but watch carefully). When they’re done, set them aside to cool.

4. While the lemons are broiling and the potatoes boiling, flatten each chicken breast to about 1/2-inch thickness. Dredge in flour; salt and pepper.

5. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter in a large skillet on medium-high. When the oil is hot, lay the chicken in the pan and cook for about 4-6 minutes per side, until brown and crispy. Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with foil.

6. When the potatoes are done, drain, cool, and cut into quarters.

7. In the skillet, add 2 cloves of garlic, and stir briefly. Immediately add the potatoes, and sauté, stirring occasionally and scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Here is where you would add the rosemary if you had it. Sigh.

8. Cook the potatoes until all sides are brown; remove them to the platter with the chicken.

9. Add to the skillet one tablespoon of butter and the remaining garlic. Sauté the garlic for just a minute, making sure not to burn it. Add the artichoke hearts and capers, and stir-fry for another minute or two. Deglaze the pan with the wine, and cook while stirring. Add the juice from the roasted lemons and cook for another couple of minutes; the sauce should reduce a little.

10. Pour the sauce over the chicken and potatoes; serve with any extra sauce. Serves 4.

DELICIOUS!

Posted: Wednesday, September 14th, 2005 at 12:17 pm Filed under: Main Dish, Weekly Menu, Meat, Chicken. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.