Recipe: Sautéed Chicken with Sage Browned Butter

Wow, so Blogger was on the fritz there for a few days, huh?  Let's celebrate being together again with a recipe that's great for a group, Sautéed Chicken with Sage Browned Butter.

This is another one from Cooking Light magazine, which has turned out to be a great source of flavourful, crowd pleasing dishes.  I assume they're healthy too, you know, cause it's called Cooking Light.  That said, their homepage currently features a parade of cream pie recipes, so you know, I could have been duped. Anything is possible.

What you'll need:

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Cooking spray

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons butter

2 sage sprigs

1 tablespoon minced shallots

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Fresh sage leaves 

Directions:

1.  The first thing you are supposed to do is place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound it to 1/4 -inch thickness.  I don't own a meat pounder thingy and thought I could get away with just using something heavy in my kitchen + my own brute strength.  Turns out it doesn't work that way.  This means I was working with normal sized chicken breasts.

2.  Then take the chicken, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, dredge it in flour and saute it for 4 minutes on each side until it is done.  Since I was working with a thicker cut of chicken, I browned it for about 2 minutes on each side (which gave it quite a nice crust) and then popped it in the oven to finish it off.  This took about 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

While your pounded chicken is resting, or your not-pouned chicken is finishing off in the oven, you can get moving on the sauce.

3.  Add butter and sage sprigs to pan; cook over medium heat until butter browns.  Be careful to brown it slowly and not burn it!  Discard sage.  Add shallots and thyme; cook for 30 seconds.  Add lemon juice; cook for 30 seconds.

4.  Serve with chicken.  Garnish with sage leaves (I also garnished with lemon and thyme).

Verdict:

This was yummy!  I think it would have been easier and better if I had followed the directions and pounded it. Guess I need to take a trip to Williams Sonoma.  Oh, the hardship!  I served this on a Friday night when the Robeau and I had our friend Brian over for dinner along with some Roasted Asparagus (done in olive oil, garlic and lemon) and Buttermilk Mashed Sweet Potatoes.  If I can get my act together with the whole pounding thing, this will be nice in the summer with a green salad.

Let me know if you give this recipe a try.  I could also use your tips on pounding meat.  Get your minds out of the gutter.  Seriously.  I mean it.