Thursday, December 15, 2011

Rosemary Kissed Chicken Breasts

Rosemary Kissed Chicken Breasts
Complexity Level:  Easy

Check out the rack on this one!  Baked, rosemary rubbed juicy Chicken Breasts with a Sherry Cream Sauce and love...  It's obvious what came first, this chicken, then the eggs!

This season has really taken off in  full holiday richess and baked goods, so we thought it fitting to enjoy a light, but flavorful and action packed meal with some of the best and most simple kitchen ingredients:
  • Chicken
  • Rosemary
  • Garlic
  • Olive Oil
  • Sea Salt
And so we turned the oven on, rolled up our sleaves, and got down and dirty with Fresh Rosemary, Sherry,  and a Few Breasts!


To start, we decided to use boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Although chicken skin is great for flavor, the pound of fudege we ate earlier in the week suggested otherwise, but with faith and a few good tricks we knew this meal would not be stuck in a coop!

With the boneless chicken breasts ready to go, and the oven set to 350 degrees, I started preparing the meat.  First, I rubbed each breast with Olive Oil, Sea Salt, and Garlic Powder.  Although I am a huge fan of the garlic cloves, sometimes in life you gotta go with dried spices, and I am not ashamed to admit I have plenty on hand!

Next, I poured 2/3 cup of Chicken stock into a large baking dish.  Of course we love a good sear on our meat, and these breasts would not be forgotten, so I heated up a skillet and places a nice sear on either side to lock in the love and flavor!


Now, I love fresh rosemary, and I will be using some in this recipe.  But because I really wanted a rosemary kick, I also rubbed some dry, ground rosemary on the breasts right before searing.  This really locked in a hearty winter flavor -- which is a GOOD thing!

Next, I placed the breasts into the baking dish, placing quarted onion and fresh sprigs of rosemary around them.  The goal:  To have these aromatics give even more love to the roasting breasts.

These baked for 20 minutes, then I basted them, and baked for 15 more.  The juice in the pan didn't know it, but soon it would be the base for a fabulous wine lovers sauce"  Sherry Cream Sauce.

The breasts rested after a long day in the oven.  I let them sit aside in a separate dish, while preparing the sauce.  To make the sherry sauce, the drippings went into a large skillet that had already had shallots, 1 tsp Bacon Grease (yes, bacon grease), and 1 clove of garlic simmering away.  Why Bacon you ask?  Why not!


The drippings were added to the skillet along with 1/2 cup of sherry, 1/2 cup Heavy Cream, and 1 tsp Honey.  This simmered for 10 minutes.  Of course with all this liquid added more salt is required, so a pinch of salt and pepper were added.

Note:  If you add liquids to sauces, the flavor will be dilouted, so salt and pepper are often required to assure total deliciousness!

A reduction is ideal, but a gravy sauce is good too, and so a flour slurry was whisked in to thicken the deal.

And so I plated.  Oven Roasted Herbed Potatoes, Rosemary Kissed Breasts, Sherry Cream Sauce, and Happiness... all sitting on a plate ready to be devoured!

The meal was perfect; the flavors on point!

I hope you enjoy as much as we all did!
Love and Happy Cooking!

Aimee Gonzalez


2 comments:

  1. Thanks so much! I wish I had a better camera to do these justice, but everyone loved them and they were suer juicy! WIn win! Thanks for stopping by, and Happy New Year!!!

    ReplyDelete

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